Indications have emerged of how security operatives allegedly ignored credible intelligence by the Department of State Services (DSS), which could have prevented the abduction of 25 students from Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Danko/Wasagu local government area of Kebbi State.
This is even as Kebbi State governor, Mohammed Nasir Idris, on Monday night, fumed over what he described as failure to act on credible intelligence from the DSS.
Recall that suspected gunmen had in the wee hours of Monday attacked the school, reportedly shooting dead the vice principal and kidnapping 25 female students. Three of the students, however, managed to escape from their abductors.
Security sources, who spoke to LEADERSHIP on Tuesday, said that Governor Idris, who arrived at the school at about 6.45pm on Monday, accused unnamed security agencies of sabotaging security efforts made by his administration.
“This is clear sabotage. We got credible intelligence from the DSS (Department of State Services) that this school was likely to be attacked. DSS further advised that we convene an emergency Security Council meeting, which we did. And the decision was that we would provide round-the-clock protection for the students,” said the governor.
The governor said the he took the DSS report seriously, bearing in mind that the failure to dutifully use a similar intelligence led to the December 2020 kidnap of over 300 pupils of a school in Kankara, Katsina State.
The governor lamented that deployments were made to secure the school. The heavily-armed security men spent time taking photographs with the students, only to abandon them 30 minutes before the attack.
Meanwhile, the governor, who was accompanied by security chiefs in the state, announced the setting up of a special investigation panel to unravel how, despite the DSS intelligence, and efforts by the state government, the kidnappers still struck.
The DSS state director of Kebbi State will head the panel, which will also oversee the safe return of the kidnapped students.
One of the teachers who managed to escape had told journalists that given the several armed uniformed men who were deployed to the school on Sunday, and who spent considerable time interfacing with the students and teachers, teaching them emergency drills, he was shocked at the sad turn of events.
“The heavily-armed security men spent the entire night guarding the school. Sadly, for yet-to-be determined reasons, they reportedly left the school before dawn. About 30 minutes after they withdrew, the kidnappers struck, abducting the students,” the teacher had stated.
“I believe it was the accuracy and credibility of the intelligence supplied by the DSS on the school that made Governor Idris appoint their director to head the special committee he set up.
“The good news is that there is sufficient reason to believe that the girls were kidnapped, not killed. With ongoing efforts by the federal and state governments, we are hopeful that they will all be rescued,” he declared.
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