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Scores of students abducted from seminary in Nigeria

The mass abduction of students by unidentified gunmen took place after the chief of the Nigerian president's All Progressive Congress was gunned down in a different part of the country.

Reuters

Girls who were kidnapped from a boarding school in the northwest Nigerian state of Zamfara walk in line after their release, in Zamfara, Nigeria March 2, 2021.

At least one person has been killed and more than 100 students kidnapped in an armed attack on a seminary in central Nigeria''s Niger state.

In a statement, police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said gunmen on motorcycles arrived at the Salihu Tanko Islamic School in the town of Tegina and opened fire indiscriminately on Sunday.

One person died in the attack and dozens of students were kidnapped, Abiodun said.

The exact number of abducted students is not yet known and security forces were dispatched to the scene, he said.

Nigerian media, including the independent Channels TV, said about 200 students were present at the school in the local government area of Rafi when the abduction took place.

The incident is the latest in a series of mass abductions in Nigerian schools by armed gangs who collect money for ransom.

Armed groups have carried out raids on schools in northern Nigeria, kidnapping hundreds of students since December. The worst incident this year occurred at the Government Girls Secondary School Jangebe in February, when 279 girls were abducted and later released.

The West African nation recently banned motorcycles in several states to stem such attacks.

In a number of states, including Benue, Plateau, Katsina and Zamfara, students have been kidnapped from schools multiple times since January.

Education had been suspended in some states due to attacks targeting Nigerian schools.

On Saturday, 14 university students and staff who had been abducted from Greenfield University in Kaduna state on April 20 were released after spending more than a month in captivity.

Nigerian president outraged over assassination of ruling party chief

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said he was outraged by the assassination of his party man by unknown gunmen on Sunday in the country's southeastern Owerri city.

"I'm repulsed by such premeditated and gruesome murder of (Ahmed) Gulak by evil people who are determined to undermine the peace, unity and territorial integrity of our country," the president said in a statement released by his spokesman Garba Shehu.

Buhari described the killing of Gulak, a chieftain of the president's All Progressive Congress party, as "outrageous and disgusting."

He vowed to deploy all resources to fish out and brought to justice killers of the politician.

Police said Gulak was intercepted and killed by six armed bandits on his way to the airport in Owerri on Sunday morning, minutes after leaving his hotel room.

"He left his hotel without informing the police nor sister agencies, in view of the fragile security situation in the southeast," the police said.

The killing has generated a huge outcry in parts of the country.

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies