More than 24 students from the Federal University of Gusau were kidnapped in the early hours of Friday after gunmen raided the Sabon-Gida hamlet in Bungudu Local Government Area in Zamfara State.
A student at the school, who requested anonymity for security concerns, informed Channels Television that the attack abducted around 24 classmates, the majority of whom were female.
Nazeer Sabon-Gida, a Sabon-Gida resident, corroborated that the gunmen stormed the community around 3 a.m. and began firing indiscriminately.
According to him, three student dormitories were raided, and the bandits abducted all of the students.
“They came into town around 3 a.m. and began shooting indiscriminately,” he claimed.
“We have yet to confirm the number of students kidnapped because the bandits broke into three hostels and kidnapped all of the students.” It’s difficult to estimate their numbers right now.”
Another source told Channels Television that the robbers were engaged in a heavy fire battle with members of the Nigerian Army, but that this did not prevent the bandits from fleeing with the kidnapped victims.
“They were seriously engaged with army troops, but the way these bandits operate, they will divide themselves into two, one group will move with the kidnapped victims while the other will stay behind to protect the first group,” he explained.
“The first group had left with the students, while the second had engaged the army in a gun duel.”
Some university students protested the series of abductions involving their classmates in Sabon-Gida and Damba in June.
Sabon-Gida village is located about 20 kilometers from Gusau’s state capital, beside the major campus of the Federal University of Gusau.
Attempts to contact school officials were futile because the school’s spokesperson, Umar Usman, did not answer to multiple phone calls from our correspondent.
Similarly, the state police leadership has yet to comment on the new attack.