Following the abduction of over 300 schoolgirls from the Government Girls’ Secondary School, GGSS Jangebe, in Talata Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State, Northern Youths Movement (NYM) has raised some questions over the activities of the Nigerian military.
The youths are demanding the immediate sack of General Babagana Monguno, rtd, the National Security Adviser.
The Northern youths wondered how the bandits could have carried out the attack and abducted over 300 students in the school located less than 100 metres to a military checkpoint.
NYM accused the military of complicity in a statement signed by its Chairman, Mallam Ishaya Jato in Abuja on Friday, and made available to DAILY POST.
According to the youths, it was becoming clearer that some heads of security agencies such as the military authority will not want banditry in the North-West and Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East to end.
They claimed that some persons in charge of combating the criminal activities in the region were benefiting from them.
“It is on record that at about 11pm on Thursday, soldiers stormed Jangebe, ordering all the residents to return to their houses immediately,” the group claimed.
“These same soldiers, who stormed the town were nowhere to be found when the bandits invaded the town at about 1pm, two hours after the military men came,” the youths said.
“Also, there is a military checkpoint located not more than 100 metres from the school.
“The questions are; where were the soldiers who stormed Jangede at about 11pm on Thursday when the bandits invaded the town two hours later? Why was it that there was no response from the soldiers stationed less than 100 metres to the school?
“For what reason did the soldiers order residents of Jangede to return to their houses at about 11pm? Were they aware of the bandits’ invasion? Why was it that it was a distance of 400 metres from the
school that a Police Officer, Sgt Hamza Sulaiman was killed?
“We are also aware of the request for the release of $1 billion by the National Security Adviser (NSA), General Babagana Monguno. This is apart from the $1 billion taken from the Excess Crude Account in 2017 and budgetary allocation for the military in the 2021 Budget,” they stated.
The group said that the attack may not be unconnected to the fact that the Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle had opposed the NSA’s demand.
DAILY POST reported the kidnap of over 300 female students from their school hostels by bandits during the week. This happened barely a week after over 40 persons, including students and teachers were kidnapped from another Government Secondary School in Kagara, Niger State.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday warned that his administration will not succumb to blackmail by bandits, adding that no criminal group will be too powerful for the government to overrun.
According to Buhari, the government would have deployed massive force to extinguish the criminal but for the lives of innocent citizens living in those villages where they build their camps.
