House Member Laments Abduction of Teachers, Students in Kebbi

By Adedayo Akinwale and Udora Orizu

A member of the House of Representatives, representing Ngaski/Shanga/Yawuri Federal Constituency in Kebbi State, Hon. Yusuf Tanko Sununu has lamented recurring cases of abduction of his constituents by bandits.

Addressing journalists on the heels of the attack on the Federal Government College in Birnin-Yawuri, Kebbi State and the abduction of some teachers and students by suspected bandits on Thursday, Sununu, who is the Chairman House Committee on Healthcare Services, while expressing sadness over the incident, raised the alarm over the worsening insecurity in his constituency.

He said that children were no longer going to school and farmers were no longer going to the farm due to the heightened insecurity in the area.

The lawmaker recalled that a week ago, another calamity befell the constituents when armed bandits numbering about 250 to 300, operated for more than eight hours and collected money, handsets, motorcycles and cattle from members of the community.

This devious act, he said led to massive influx of internally displaced persons into the headquarters of the Emirate in the town of Yawuri.

He said the bandits after operating successfully left and threatened to come back, which they did by attacking the school on Thursday.

Sununu appealed to the Federal Government to urgently intervene in the matter.

He said, “However we were able to convince people and they started going back to their respective areas. But they (bandits) left a message that they would be coming back. Taking it seriously, some people refused to go back and in the early hours of today, they repeated what they had done earlier and they came into the constituency, sometime around 10.30 or thereabout.

“They were able to have access after strong fights with some security guards, police that are guarding the Federal Government College, Birnin Yauri and they made inroad into the school. They succeeded in kidnapping some teachers and an unaccounted number of students. Some of the students and security men are currently receiving care at the General Hospital, Yauri following gun injuries. This is cause for concern and as a representative of the people I have to come here and make a call on the Federal Government to look at Yauri’s position with its neighbouring Niger State. It has direct access to Zamfara State and west of Yawuri is the back of River Niger. Our fear is that their major target is to enter Yawuri. Now we are calling on the Federal Government to provide adequate security.”

When asked why the lawmakers were yet to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari for failing to secure the nation, Sununu said the power to impeach the President has not been taken away from the legislature, however there were issues to be considered.

He said that though the National Assembly had done all it could to help in the fight against insurgency, banditry and others, the lawmakers still won’t relent.

He said, “All of us believe that they should remove the service chiefs. Till we are where we are and things are been getting worse. I think the National Assembly as a body has done all it can. But you see, issues must be handled. There is a perception and it is a general belief vis-a-vis if you have this, you have two options. Say you want to impeach, if the impeachment would put the country into more chaos, we are all sentimental.

“You are sentimental and i am sentimental, it is only when we are begging to see Nigeria as a single entity and we are all ready to work for that, that is when we can say we have arrived. I would not want to preempt the National Assembly. The National Assembly leadership has its own members, so if need warrants and they table it before the House.”