President Bola Tinubu has directed Bello Matawalle, minister of state for defence, to relocate to Kebbi following the abduction of schoolgirls in the state.
Twenty-five students were taken on Monday morning when bandits attacked their school, killing a staff member, Hassan Yakubu Makuku, and injuring a security guard.
Two of the abducted girls reportedly escaped on Tuesday, while efforts to rescue the others are still under way.
In a statement on Thursday, Tinubu ordered Matawalle to move to Kebbi to monitor the security operations aimed at securing the girls’ release.
The statement noted that Matawalle had gained some experience in handling banditry and mass kidnapping during his tenure as governor of Zamfara. He is expected to arrive in Kebbi on Friday.
On Wednesday, Tinubu postponed his planned trips to South Africa and Angola because of the Kebbi school abduction and another bandit attack on a church in Eruku, a community in the Ekiti local government area of Kwara State.
The attackers entered the CAC branch at Oke Isegun in Eruku, near the Kogi border, and ransacked the church, taking the worshippers’ belongings. The Kwara police command said three persons, including a vigilante, were injured but did not confirm how many were abducted or killed.
