Newsbreak: Bandits attack Sokoto, Kidnap 15 students of Islamic School

By Hakeem Abioro and Ologeh Joseph Chibu

Armed men have attacked an Islamic School in the North West city of Sokoto.

The attack took place on Saturday, Irohinoodua was informed.

Sources said no fewer than 15 students of Tsangaya school were abducted by the armed men. One woman was also kidnapped while one other person was shot.

The ancient Islamic school is located in Gidan Bakuso in Gada local government area of Sokoto state.

Sokoto is the head of the ancient Fulani caliphate and has been hotbed of violent confrontation between Fulani and Hausa people over land ownership and grazing rights. The elite of the North try to cover the ethnic conflict due to the embarrassment it is expected to cause considering the fraternal relationship between Fulani and Hausa from which political elites in the North continue to harvest.

The Fulani are essentially nomads while the Hausa are farmers.

The Fulani led the Jihad of 1804 which seized swathe of land belonging to Hausa whose Talakawa at the period of the revolution joined the Fulani to overthrow their own oppressive Habe Chiefs.

Multiple sources link the ceaseless violence in Sokoto to a combination of Hausa renaissance, the country’s economic downtown which naturally lead to more anger and desperation in the face of a backward and reactionary political leadership.

But some sources blame a section of the Northern political class for the upsurge in violence linked to attempts to discredit the government of Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu who emerged last year February after thwarting difficult obstacles mounted by hegemon in his own ruling All Progressives Congress,(APC) led by former President Mohammadu Buhari.

The former President represented the Conservative CPC which, with others, had merged to produce the APC while Tinubu led the more liberal Action Congress, (AC). For the eight years of Buhari’s reign, Tinubu was literally kept in Siberia.

His victory over the many obstacles mounted by Buhari’s men remains a shock to both local and international interests.

“The kidnapping is a continuation of the war against Tinubu” one source who does not wish to be named told Irohinoodua.

The proprietor of the Sokoto school, Liman Abubakar, said 15 students were abducted in the early morning blitz.

Abubakar said one person was shot while a woman was abducted.

“As they were leaving the town, they sighted our students rushing into their rooms and they kidnapped many of them.

“We have so far counted 15 who are missing and we are still searching for more,” he said.

The lawmaker for Gada-East Constituency at the state House of Assembly, Kabiru Dauda said he was informed around 2am.

“I reached out to the local government authorities and security agencies and I am sure they are doing something about it,” he said.