KANKARA, Nigeria (AP): Anger, fear and exhaustion. Anxiety has overwhelmed many parents in the village of Kankara in northern Nigeria, who are waiting for news about their children, who are among the more than 330 kidnapped by extremists from a government boys school last week.
They remained hopeful as Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari said 17 boys had been rescued since the attack, including 15 by the army, another by police and a boy found wandering in the woods who were taken by residents.
Boko Haram jihadist rebels in Nigeria have claimed responsibility for the abduction of Kankara government high school science students. Hundreds of other students managed to escape by jumping the fence during the extremist attack or fleeing as they were taken to the nearby forest.
Boko Haram has kidnapped school boys because it believes Western education is not Islamic, rebel leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video claiming responsibility for the attack, according to SITE Intelligence Group.
The Nigerian government is in talks with the attackers in an effort to free the boys, government spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement. However, he did not identify the attackers whom the government previously described as bandits.
Aminu Ma’le, whose son was among the 17 who regained his freedom, said: “I thank God for miraculously helping us and I pray for the safety of other children who are still missing. or in captivity “. His son was found wandering through the bushes by the military, he said.
Parents say they are fed up with waiting for the situation in the north, home of President Muhammadu Buhari, to improve.
“There is no way I can measure my anger now,” said Marwa Hamza Kankara, who was camping at school on Tuesday night because of her son. “No woman wants to be out at this hour, but we can’t sleep, we can’t eat because of our missing children.”
Hamza says all the missing belong to Nigeria. “Not only do I cry for my son, but I cry for all the children,” she said.
When armed patrols pass, out-of-school parents momentarily get the hope of having found their children.
Across Nigeria, people are closely following the fate of the abducted boys and many criticize the government for continued extremist violence.
“No one is happy with the country’s insecurity. Even children are afraid to be in present-day Nigeria because of insecurity, “said Syvester Anachike, 58, who sells newspapers in Abuja.” Imagine the children have been abducted in the President’s state! It’s unfair. It’s not right. ”
Friday’s abduction has become a rallying cry for Nigerians fed up with the ongoing extremist violence. #BringBackOurBoys is a trend on Twitter as people express their frustrations and dates back to 2014 when the #BringBackOurGirls campaign became an international cry for girls abducted from a government boarding school in Chibok, northeastern Nigeria .
“One thing that seems obvious about the security challenge is that there is no fair play and transparency on the part of the leadership,” said Chiroma Shibu, a member of the National Youth Assembly of Nigeria, a non-profit organization set up by students and other young people. from all over the country.
Salisu Masi, who has two children among the abductees, said he was concerned about claims that Boko Haram is behind the abduction. “It’s very worrying,” he told The Associated Press.
On Saturday, a joint rescue operation by the Nigerian police, air force and army began after the military took part in clashes with bandits after locating their hideout in the Zango / Paula forest.
The mass abduction draws attention to the persistent problem of extremist insurgency in Nigeria. For more than a decade, Boko Haram has been involved in a bloody campaign to introduce a strict Islamic government. Thousands of people have been killed and more than a million people displaced by violence. Boko Haram has been mostly active in northeastern Nigeria, but with the kidnappings of the Katsina state school, its attacks in the northwest have increased.
The Islamic extremist group has carried out mass abductions of students before. In Chibok, in April 2014, more than 270 schoolgirls were taken from their school in northeastern Borno state. About 100 of the girls are still missing.
In February 2014, 59 boys were killed when Boko Haram attacked Buni Yadi Federal Government College in Yobe State.
“Boko Haram is the result of the fact that there is a low level of education in northern Nigeria,” said Professor Sylvester Odion-Akhaine of Lagos State University. He said the current unrest is worsening the region’s socio-economic problems.
The kidnappings have highlighted that education is being attacked in Nigeria, Amnesty International said.
“Schools should be safe places and no child should choose between their education and their life,” Isa Sanusi of Amnesty International said in a statement on Wednesday. “Other children have had to drop out of school after being displaced by frequent violent attacks on their communities, and many teachers have been forced to flee to other states.”
Katsina State closed all its boarding schools after the attack on Kankara High School. The Zamfara state government, along with Katsina, has closed 10 schools as a precaution. Jigawa and Kano states have also ordered the closure of schools, according to the Premium Times of Nigeria.
Many Nigerians blame President Muhammadu Buhari for security shortcomings in the country.
The opposition People’s Democratic Party says the abduction of students in Katsina, the president’s home state, who was visiting there at the time of the attack, raises serious questions about the government’s ability to combat insurrection.
The opposition party said the government’s inability to ensure Nigeria’s security has opened up the country “to terrorists, bandits, vandals and insurgents”.
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Umar reported from Maiduguri, Nigeria. Sam Olukoya in Lagos, Nigeria, and Carley Petesch in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.