Panic in Abuja amidst rumours of fresh kidnap of school students
There was panic in communities on the outskirt of Abuja on Tuesday morning amidst reports that some students were kidnapped from a school in Nyanya.
Nyanya is the community where two recent, separate bomb explosions in three weeks killed at least 95 people.
When the rumours of the kidnap spread on Tuesday morning, parents were seen rushing to schools in Nyanya, Kurudu and other adjoining communities to pick their wards.
At the Junior secondary school in Kurudu, one of the teachers, Zachariah Ezra, said he was already teaching in class when a parent ran in and said he wanted to pick his ward home.
Mr. Ezra said while he was trying to calm the parent, four others rushed in to take their children and them pandemonium ensued.
The school principal, Akaahan Jonathan, however, told PREMIUM TIMES that no one was injured during the stampede and no student was kidnapped from the school.
The school had become virtually empty at about 10:15 a.m. as many parents, unwilling to listen to the advice of the school authorities, simply took their children home.
The police eventually arrived the scene and arrested a parent, whom they accused of being the first to cause the panic. The man was whisked away.
The police are yet to confirm the kidnap of any student. Altine Daniel, the Abuja police spokesperson, did not pick or return calls made to her phone.
Also, the Nigerian Television Authority quotes an official of Abbe Maria School in Nyanya as saying the rumour of kidnap of some of the school’s students is false.
The panic in the Abuja communities is happening three weeks after over 200 female secondary school students were kidnapped in a government school in Chibok, Borno state.
The over 200 girls are yet to be found.
More details later.
