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The incident has renewed nationwide fears over the rising wave of mass kidnappings targeting schools across northern Nigeria.
Human rights activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has berated President Bola Tinubu and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, for their disturbing silence on the abduction of 25 schoolgirls in Kebbi State by terrorists.
The Kebbi State Police Command earlier confirmed that no fewer than 25 students were abducted from the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area of the state in the early hours of Monday.
The attack, carried out by heavily armed bandits, left one staff member dead and another injured, according to a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Nafi’u Abubakar Kotarkoshi.
The incident reportedly occurred around 4am when the assailants stormed the school and engaged police officers on duty in a fierce gun battle.
Despite the officers’ efforts, the attackers scaled the school’s perimeter fence and forcibly removed the students from their hostel.
The police spokesperson confirmed that one Hassan Makuku lost his life during the attack, while Ali Shehu sustained gunshot injuries to his right hand.
The incident has renewed nationwide fears over the rising wave of mass kidnappings targeting schools across northern Nigeria.
Reacting to the incident and a series of other security issues bedeviling the country, Sowore, in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account, said the government’s muted response underscores a pattern of leadership failure.
He wrote, “Twenty-five schoolgirls have been abducted by terrorists in Kebbi, yet President Bola Tinubu’s press statement of the day is a casual greeting to a ‘seasoned banker’”.
He faulted the Police Chief for his silence, saying, “The Inspector General of Police has not uttered a single word. This incompetent and illegally appointed IGP should have been fired long ago, especially after the Yelwata massacre, but this is Nigeria, where failure is rewarded and silence is the default response to national tragedy.”
Sowore, convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, also referenced the killing of a senior military officer by terrorists.
“Boko Haram/ISWAP has just executed a Brigadier General in the Nigerian Army, and still the President has said nothing. No reassurance. No outrage. No leadership,” he wrote.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that multiple sources on Monday confirmed that a Nigerian Army top officer and commander, Brigadier General M. Uba, was killed by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters after the terrorists reportedly intercepted and tracked his location along the Damboa–Biu axis in Borno State.
The tragic incident occurred shortly after the Brigade Commander had participated in a successful joint air–ground offensive against insurgents in the area.
The General had reportedly spoken with his superiors earlier, confirming that he was safe following the operation and was regrouping with his team.
However, the officer’s communication may have inadvertently exposed his coordinates.
He was captured alive while the terrorists interrogated him briefly before summarily executing him.
Sowore noted that the current state of affairs in Nigeria reflects deep governance collapse.
According to him, “A nation where schoolgirls are kidnapped, senior military officers are murdered, and those in power behave as though nothing happened is a failed state.”
Nigeria has faced a resurgence of school kidnappings since the 2014 abduction of 276 Chibok schoolgirls, an incident that drew global outrage.
In recent years, mass abductions have re-emerged across northern states, including Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna, and Kebbi, with criminal gangs and extremist factions targeting students for ransom and political leverage.
Kebbi State itself has witnessed several such incidents, including the 2021 abduction of over 100 students from the Federal Government College (FGC) Birnin Yauri, some of whom remain to date.
The latest attack highlights ongoing gaps in intelligence, early-warning systems, and community protection despite repeated government pledges to end school kidnappings.
Critics have also frequently accused federal authorities of slow responses or public silence following major security incidents, further eroding public confidence.
As of press time, neither the Presidency nor the Nigeria Police Force has issued an official statement on the Kebbi abductions.
SAHARA REPORTERS
