Katsina Gov Agrees 333 Kankara Students Still Missing, as Parents Begin Protest
Katsina State governor, Aminu Bello Masari, on Sunday put the number of missing students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara at 333, as pockets of protests have begun to emerge in the state to demand for security.
Gunmen stormed Kankara on Friday and abducted hundreds of students from the school, throwing the entire Katsina State into a state of confusion and uncertainty.
Authorities have said they could not immediately ascertain the number of students that were taken by the gunmen, but it became obvious on Saturday that some of the students went into hiding when the bandits attacked their school, and the governor stated earlier that about two hundred have been accounted for.
The governor however revealed the number of students that are still missing while briefing the federal government delegation to the state led by Minister of Defence, Salihi Magashi, at the Katsina Government House, that 333 students were still unaccounted for.
The delegation also included the service chiefs, and observers have said they are showing so much concern only because the president is in Katsina at the moment.
The governor also confirmed that the school has a total population of 839 students before the incident happened.
He said: “Based on the avaielable record we have, we are still searching for 333 students through either the forest or their parents to ascertain the actual number that has been kidnapped.
“We are still counting because more are coming out from the forest and we are calling through the numbers those parents that have phone numbers to find out whether or not their children have gone back home.
”Earlier, Mr Magashi asked the armed forces, the police and other security agencies to move faster to ensure the speedy rescue of the students in the next coming hours.
The minister said “we are here also to sympathise with you over the recent abduction of secondary school students which is a more or less ruthless exercise conducted to temper with the education of the students.”
“With the brief, we received from the sister security agencies in the state, this task will be very simple to accomplish within the next few hours, we will ensure that these people are back without any collateral damage to the people of Katsina State.”
Meanwhile, pockets of protests have been emerging in the state to register displeasure over the state of insecurity that has persisted for some time now.
An unnamed woman who claimed to be mother to one of the abducted students led the charge in Kankara on Sunday, carrying placards with inscriptions that demand action from government to ensure security in Kankara and the entire state.
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