Again, Boko Haram massacre 40 students in Yobe

It was a bloody Sunday in Gujba, a sleepy
town in Yobe State, when gunmen
suspected to be Boko Haram Islamists
stormed the state’s College of Agriculture
and killed more than 40 students, some
of them in their sleep. The insurgents
were said to have launched the
coordinated attacks in the early hours of
yesterday. The attack was coming as four
travellers were slaughtered in renewed
attacks on motorists near Benisheik town
in neighbouring Borno State.
Giving an account of the killings, a
student who does want to be mentioned
said: “The attackers had sneaked into the
male hostel around 1am when the
students were fast asleep, set the
hostels, administrative block and some of
the classrooms ablaze before opening fire
on students who attempted to flee the
scene.”
A statement signed by Abdullahi Bego,
Special Adviser on Press Affairs and
Information to Yobe State Governor
Ibrahim Gaidam, confirmed that 40
students were killed in the massacre at
dawn. “Forty students were killed by
criminals and terrorists while four others
were injured during the attack,” the
media aide said in the statement.
He said that the Governor had visited the
injured persons on admission at the Sani
Abacha Specialist Hospital, Damaturu
even as he (Shema) described the attack
as “devastating, heinous and barbaric.”
According to Bego, the governor also
pledged that government would foot the
medical bills of the victims while
commiserating with the families of the
deceased, and those injured in the attack.
“Governor Gaidam is calling on the
military and other law enforcement
operatives in the state to intensify
surveillance and patrols, to deal more
effectively with the prevailing security
challenges. Although, there is increase in
troop movement and  deployment of
more military hardware in the North-East,
people are yet to see the kind of action
that will effectively nip criminal and
terrorist activities in the bud, the
governor said in the statement.
Recall that yesterday’s attack came barely
two months after a similar attack on a
secondary school at Mamudo in which 42
students were reportedly killed. Gunmen
had set ablaze the students hostels at the
Government Secondary School on July 6,
killing 42 students and a teacher. The
development prompted the state
government to shut down public schools
in the state for two months in order to
enable it construct perimeter fences
around them.
In Borno, the insurgents returned to
Benisheik last Saturday, where four
passengers, including a woman travelling
in a Volkswagen Golf car were attacked.
The incident occurred at Malumti, a
village near Benisheik where the militants
had killed about 140 people mostly
travellers, two weeks ago.
Sources said the Islamists dared the
military men on patrol as they waylaid the
Golf car. “They killed the driver and three
men but spared the woman. The car and
its passengers were coming from
Damaturu,” a resident claimed. The
insurgents however, set ablaze the car.
As if that was not enough, the attackers
reportedly returned on Sunday morning,
hijacked a truck conveying food items
from Maiduguri, evacuated the items,
loaded them into a waiting vehicle and
burnt the vehicle after allowing the driver
to flee.
“Many vehicles trying to use the road
today, (Sunday) on their way to Yobe,
Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa and Jos were
stopped in the morning. Many of them
had to return to Maiduguri with their
passengers,” Saleh Ali, a trader told Daily
Sun .
Reacting to the incidents yesterday,
President Goodluck Jonathan,  condemned
the killings describing them as depressing
in the wake of the 53rd independence
celebration.
Speaking during the 53rd Independence
Anniversary Interdenominational Service,
at the National Christian Centre, Abuja, he
said anybody in his shoes would be short
of what to tell Nigerians nor words to
comfort the families of the affected
students. “If you are wearing my shoes,
what courage would you have to stand
here before Nigerians, what message will
you send to Nigerians, to the parents of
these young people, our future leaders,
students in school of Agriculture? would
you say that the killing of these students
is political?”, the President asked.
In a related development, the Senate
President, David Mark, condoled with the
government and people of Niger State
over the ill-fated boat mishap in the River
Niger near Malilli village in which no
fewer than 42 persons have been
confirmed dead.
Former vice president Atiku Abubakar also
described the Gujba killings as ‘senseless
and tragic’, saying, it casts a ‘horrible
image’ on the events marking the 53rd
National Day Anniversary. “As a father, I
am deeply saddened by these senseless
murders. These were young Nigerians
studying agriculture with a goal of helping
to feed our nation.
“We must urgently review our strategy
for confronting these cowards. The
murders at the Yobe State College of
Agriculture are further proofs that we
need to have a rethink on how we
provide security for our nation.” Quoting
late American civil rights hero, Dr. Martin
Luther King, (Jr.) as a rallying point for
Nigeria, Atiku said: “Those who love peace
must learn to organize as effectively as
those who love war. We must organize
ourselves better to provide dignity and
security for Nigeria.  To defeat terror, we
must use much more potent, unbeatable
weapons: democracy, education and
opportunity, ” the former vice president
advised.