The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Niger State chapter, has debunked the claim by the state government that the school management was informed of the threat of attack by bandits and the warning to shutdown the school.
The CAN said the management of the school did not receive any early warning of threat of attack by bandits either written or verbal from the government or any individual before the invasion of the school by the gunmen. The Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese, Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, who is the state Chairman of CAN, in a statement issued by his media aide, Dan Atori, in Minna yesterday, debunked the claim by the government, describing it as a “mere propaganda” and afterthought.
“It is very pertinent we address the issue of prior warnings from either the government or security agencies as peddled in some quarters.
“I have just got back to the village this night (Friday night) after I visited the school where I also met with parents of the children to assure them that we are working with the government and Security agencies to see that our children are rescued and brought back safely.
“Unfortunately I was gritted with what I term “propaganda” that the school was given a prior warning by the government through a circular.
“That is not true, we did not receive any circular, written or verbal from any quota, it must be an afterthought and a way to shift blame”, Rev. Bulus stated.
He recalled that sometimes in 2022 when the management of the school received the rumour of security challenge in the area, “we do not hesitate, we shut down immediately”.
“Whoever made that misleading statement should know that it is a false allegation and should withdraw such or provide the proofs and evidences.
“We have asked the Education Secretary if he received a circular he said no; or if he was asked to send any to us, he said no. We asked if he was verbally informed, he also said no. Let them tell the world who they gave the circular to, or through what channel did they send it”, he added.
He stated further that the National Association of Private Schools Niger state chapter also denied receiving any correspondence from the state government to that effect.
CAN’s reaction followed the statement issued by the State Government on Friday that it had earlier issued a clear directive suspending all construction activities and ordering the temporary closure of all boarding schools within the affected zone as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, CAN has put the figure of abducted students from the school at 303 and 12 staff. “After leaving the school last night (Friday night), we decided to make calls, do a verification exercise and do further enquiries on those we had thought escaped successfully, only to discover that 88 more students were also captured after they tried to escape.
“Our attention was drawn to when some parents whose children we had thought escaped from the attack also came asking of their children. We became curious and that was when we did census and discovered that they were abducted.
“This now makes it 303 students (male and female) including 12 teachers (4 females and 8 males). This brings the total number of abducted persons to 315”, CAN disclosed.
According to the statement, the school has a total number of 629, made up of 430 pupils at the primary and 199 at the secondary school section. Rev. Bulus called on everyone to remain calm and prayerful, assuring that CAN will continue to actively collaborate with security operatives, community leaders, government and relevant authorities for the safe and quick return of all abductees.
