NSCDC Officers Avert Herdsmen’s Planned Abduction Of School Children In Benue

-Church Shut Down School Activities For Learners Safety

-We Noticed An Earlier Issue Vulnerability, Threat To The School – NSCDC

A grand plot by armed gunmen suspected to be of Fulani extraction to attack and abduct students of Fr. Angus Frazer Memorial High School located in Welfare Quarters in Makurdi, the Benue State capital was averted by officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC.

The insurgents were said to have made an incursion into the school in the late hours of Tuesday and began sporadic shooting while the learners were asleep.

The guerrilla attack which bore a replica of the Chibok Schoolgirls scenario, was however unsuccessful as the insurgents were repelled by a team of NSCDC officers stationed at the school’s by its management from accomplishing their mission.

It was gathered that no casualty was reported among the students but one of the officers who was said to have been shot and his gun reportedly taken away is currently receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Center, Makurdi.

The Director of Social Communications, in the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, Very Revd. Fr. Moses Iorapuu, confirmed the dastardly attack, saying if not for the professional handling of the situation by the NSCDC team, the situation would have been catastrophic.

Fr. Iorapuu also announced the suspension of all activities stressing that the decision to shut down the school “was a preemptive measure to ensure the safety of our children and avoid what could have been an unimaginable disaster”.

“The decision to suspend activities was a preemptive measure to ensure the safety of our children and avoid what could have been an unimaginable disaster.

“At a meeting called by Bishop Anagbe of Makurdi Diocese his consulors, the education team, and the management of the Via Christi Society unanimously agreed that the lives of the children should be considered above any other consideration in this case.

“The Director of Catholic Education Services was also mandated to reach out to the relevant stakeholders”.

Very Revd. Fr. Moses Iorapuu noted that the area where the attack occured is notorious for killings and kidnappings by suspected herdsmen, and directed priests and those in pastoral units to tighten security around their premises and further appealed to relevant authorities to ensure the safety of life and property of the citizens.

Also in a reaction, the Commandant NSCDC, Yakubu Ibrahim, said the Command observed that there has been an earlier issue about the vulnerability and threat to the school.

CC Yakubu Ibrahim said that “the recent happening is just a confirmation of our thought that it is possible to happen and luckily for us we have been very proactive in that respect that when it did happen, there were men on ground to repel that attack and to prevent it from happening”.

He said it has been an earlier initiative by the NSCDC to secure all schools in the state which he said is the Command’s primary area of concern.

According to him, the concept of safe school initiative started with the NSCDC after a survey that was conducted in order to determine the vulnerability of the schools generally with the trend of kidnapping and abductions that had been going on and raising concerns internationally.

He expressed happiness that the safe school initiative which sought to be a pilot project in Benue State is indeed on course, stressing that the injured personnel of the NSCDC was responding positively to treatment.

It would be recalled that former Chief of Staff to immediate-past Governor of the state, Chief Samuel Ortom, Mr. Terwase Orbunde, was attacked around the area while his wife, Abigail Kashimana and house help, Patience Ogute were kidnapped after a heavy ransom was said to have been paid.