Newsbreak: Armed men kidnap 30 children in Katsina

By Ahmed Kadri and Ologeh Joseph Chibu

Armed men have kidnapped 30 children from a school in Katsina, the North West Nigerian State.

The incidence took place on Tuesday, Irohinoodua correspondent in Katsina has been informed.

“They were armed with AK-47. They came in motorcycles. The children were picked one after the other. There was no resistance because we had no security and no vigilante around” Ahmed Chanda a local teacher told Irohinoodua.

He said he many residents ran away when the kidnappers came into the community and could only watch from a distance as the bandits took away the awed pupils.

Kidnapping for ransom is now common in Nigeria but there are suggestions that some of the kidnappings were masterminded by those who which to embarrass and ground the current Government led by President Bola Tinubu.

“We have had kidnapping in the past. In recent years, kidnapping has become a political tool. The standard was set in the beginning knowing that they needed something to use as a bargaining chip” one security source told our correspondent.

The kidnappers were said to have stormed Kasai village in Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State.

Armed men are very active in Batsari and it was been a centre of emerging conflict between armed Hausa and Fulani men for close to decade.

Th police spokesperson, Assistant Superintendent of Police Abubakar Sadiq, was not available to confirm the incidence.

However, locals who spoke to Irohinoodua said the children were taken away in the morning hours.

Katsina has produced two Nigerian Presidents, Musa Yar Adua and Mohammadu Buhari.