…4 travellers in Borno
…Jonathan, Atiku condemn killings
From TIMOTHY OLANREWAJU, Maiduguri, and JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, ABUJA
It was a bloody Sunday in Gujba, a sleepy town in Yobe State, when gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram Islamists stormed the state’s College of Agriculture and killed more than 40 students, some of them in their sleep. The insurgents were said to have launched the coordinated attacks in the early hours of yesterday. The attack was coming as four travellers were slaughtered in renewed attacks on motorists near Benisheik town in neighbouring Borno State.
Giving an account of the killings, a student who does want to be mentioned said: “The attackers had sneaked into the male hostel around 1am when the students were fast asleep, set the hostels, administrative block and some of the classrooms ablaze before opening fire on students who attempted to flee the scene.”
A statement signed by Abdullahi Bego, Special Adviser on Press Affairs and Information to Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, confirmed that 40 students were killed in the massacre at dawn. “Forty students were killed by criminals and terrorists while four others were injured during the attack,” the media aide said in the statement.
He said that the Governor had visited the injured persons on admission at the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital, Damaturu even as he (Shema) described the attack as “devastating, heinous and barbaric.” According to Bego, the governor also pledged that government would foot the medical bills of the victims while commiserating with the families of the deceased, and those injured in the attack.
“Governor Gaidam is calling on the military and other law enforcement operatives in the state to intensify surveillance and patrols, to deal more effectively with the prevailing security challenges. Although, there is increase in troop movement and deployment of more military hardware in the North-East, people are yet to see the kind of action that will effectively nip criminal and terrorist activities in the bud, the governor said in the statement.
Recall that yesterday’s attack came barely two months after a similar attack on a secondary school at Mamudo in which 42 students were reportedly killed. Gunmen had set ablaze the students hostels at the Government Secondary School on July 6, killing 42 students and a teacher. The development prompted the state government to shut down public schools in the state for two months in order to enable it construct perimeter fences around them.
In Borno, the insurgents returned to Benisheik last Saturday, where four passengers, including a woman travelling in a Volkswagen Golf car were attacked. The incident occurred at Malumti, a village near Benisheik where the militants had killed about 140 people mostly travellers, two weeks ago.
Sources said the Islamists dared the military men on patrol as they waylaid the Golf car. “They killed the driver and three men but spared the woman. The car and its passengers were coming from Damaturu,” a resident claimed. The insurgents however, set ablaze the car. As if that was not enough, the attackers reportedly returned on Sunday morning, hijacked a truck conveying food items from Maiduguri, evacuated the items, loaded them into a waiting vehicle and burnt the vehicle after allowing the driver to flee.
“Many vehicles trying to use the road today, (Sunday) on their way to Yobe, Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa and Jos were stopped in the morning. Many of them had to return to Maiduguri with their passengers,” Saleh Ali, a trader told Daily Sun .
Reacting to the incidents yesterday, President Goodluck Jonathan, condemned the killings describing them as depressing in the wake of the 53rd independence celebration.
Speaking during the 53rd Independence Anniversary Interdenominational Service, at the National Christian Centre, Abuja, he said anybody in his shoes would be short of what to tell Nigerians nor words to comfort the families of the affected students. “If you are wearing my shoes, what courage would you have to stand here before Nigerians, what message will you send to Nigerians, to the parents of these young people, our future leaders, students in school of Agriculture? would you say that the killing of these students is political?”, the President asked.
In a related development, the Senate President, David Mark, condoled with the government and people of Niger State over the ill-fated boat mishap in the River Niger near Malilli village in which no fewer than 42 persons have been confirmed dead.
Former vice president Atiku Abubakar also described the Gujba killings as ‘senseless and tragic’, saying, it casts a ‘horrible image’ on the events marking the 53rd National Day Anniversary. “As a father, I am deeply saddened by these senseless murders. These were young Nigerians studying agriculture with a goal of helping to feed our nation.
“We must urgently review our strategy for confronting these cowards. The murders at the Yobe State College of Agriculture are further proofs that we need to have a rethink on how we provide security for our nation.” Quoting late American civil rights hero, Dr. Martin Luther King, (Jr.) as a rallying point for Nigeria, Atiku said: “Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war. We must organize ourselves better to provide dignity and security for Nigeria. To defeat terror, we must use much more potent, unbeatable weapons: democracy, education and opportunity, ” the former vice president advised.
…Jonathan, Atiku condemn killings
From TIMOTHY OLANREWAJU, Maiduguri, and JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, ABUJA
It was a bloody Sunday in Gujba, a sleepy town in Yobe State, when gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram Islamists stormed the state’s College of Agriculture and killed more than 40 students, some of them in their sleep. The insurgents were said to have launched the coordinated attacks in the early hours of yesterday. The attack was coming as four travellers were slaughtered in renewed attacks on motorists near Benisheik town in neighbouring Borno State.
Giving an account of the killings, a student who does want to be mentioned said: “The attackers had sneaked into the male hostel around 1am when the students were fast asleep, set the hostels, administrative block and some of the classrooms ablaze before opening fire on students who attempted to flee the scene.”
A statement signed by Abdullahi Bego, Special Adviser on Press Affairs and Information to Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, confirmed that 40 students were killed in the massacre at dawn. “Forty students were killed by criminals and terrorists while four others were injured during the attack,” the media aide said in the statement.
He said that the Governor had visited the injured persons on admission at the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital, Damaturu even as he (Shema) described the attack as “devastating, heinous and barbaric.” According to Bego, the governor also pledged that government would foot the medical bills of the victims while commiserating with the families of the deceased, and those injured in the attack.
“Governor Gaidam is calling on the military and other law enforcement operatives in the state to intensify surveillance and patrols, to deal more effectively with the prevailing security challenges. Although, there is increase in troop movement and deployment of more military hardware in the North-East, people are yet to see the kind of action that will effectively nip criminal and terrorist activities in the bud, the governor said in the statement.
Recall that yesterday’s attack came barely two months after a similar attack on a secondary school at Mamudo in which 42 students were reportedly killed. Gunmen had set ablaze the students hostels at the Government Secondary School on July 6, killing 42 students and a teacher. The development prompted the state government to shut down public schools in the state for two months in order to enable it construct perimeter fences around them.
In Borno, the insurgents returned to Benisheik last Saturday, where four passengers, including a woman travelling in a Volkswagen Golf car were attacked. The incident occurred at Malumti, a village near Benisheik where the militants had killed about 140 people mostly travellers, two weeks ago.
Sources said the Islamists dared the military men on patrol as they waylaid the Golf car. “They killed the driver and three men but spared the woman. The car and its passengers were coming from Damaturu,” a resident claimed. The insurgents however, set ablaze the car. As if that was not enough, the attackers reportedly returned on Sunday morning, hijacked a truck conveying food items from Maiduguri, evacuated the items, loaded them into a waiting vehicle and burnt the vehicle after allowing the driver to flee.
“Many vehicles trying to use the road today, (Sunday) on their way to Yobe, Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa and Jos were stopped in the morning. Many of them had to return to Maiduguri with their passengers,” Saleh Ali, a trader told Daily Sun .
Reacting to the incidents yesterday, President Goodluck Jonathan, condemned the killings describing them as depressing in the wake of the 53rd independence celebration.
Speaking during the 53rd Independence Anniversary Interdenominational Service, at the National Christian Centre, Abuja, he said anybody in his shoes would be short of what to tell Nigerians nor words to comfort the families of the affected students. “If you are wearing my shoes, what courage would you have to stand here before Nigerians, what message will you send to Nigerians, to the parents of these young people, our future leaders, students in school of Agriculture? would you say that the killing of these students is political?”, the President asked.
In a related development, the Senate President, David Mark, condoled with the government and people of Niger State over the ill-fated boat mishap in the River Niger near Malilli village in which no fewer than 42 persons have been confirmed dead.
Former vice president Atiku Abubakar also described the Gujba killings as ‘senseless and tragic’, saying, it casts a ‘horrible image’ on the events marking the 53rd National Day Anniversary. “As a father, I am deeply saddened by these senseless murders. These were young Nigerians studying agriculture with a goal of helping to feed our nation.
“We must urgently review our strategy for confronting these cowards. The murders at the Yobe State College of Agriculture are further proofs that we need to have a rethink on how we provide security for our nation.” Quoting late American civil rights hero, Dr. Martin Luther King, (Jr.) as a rallying point for Nigeria, Atiku said: “Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war. We must organize ourselves better to provide dignity and security for Nigeria. To defeat terror, we must use much more potent, unbeatable weapons: democracy, education and opportunity, ” the former vice president advised.
0 comments:
Post a Comment