By
Otunba (Dr) Abdulfalil Abayomi Odunowo
On 22 February 2024, at about 10:30 a.m., over 100 heavily armed bandits stormed the Government Girls Science College, Yauri, Kebbi State. They shot indiscriminately, killed one policeman, wounded another, and abducted at least 30 schoolgirls aged between 14 and 18. Some girls jumped from windows and fled into the bush; others were bundled onto motorcycles and vanished into the vast Rugu Forest that straddles Kebbi, Niger, and Zamfara States.
That much is undisputed. What happened in the hours and days before the attack is what turns a tragedy into a scandal. The Intelligence Was There And It Was Acted Upon Kebbi State Government officials later confirmed to journalists that the Department of State Services (DSS) had issued a specific security alert about an imminent bandit attack on the school three days earlier. In response:
• Troops from the Nigerian Army’s 8 Division were deployed to the school.
• Armoured vehicles and soldiers were stationed at the college gates.
• Parents and students saw the soldiers and felt, for once, safe.
Then, on the morning of 22 February 2024 just hours before the bandits arrived the troops were suddenly withdrawn. No official explanation has ever been given for the withdrawal. The bandits attacked with military-like precision: they came in large numbers, used the exact route the soldiers had just vacated, and completed the operation in under 30 minutes. By the time reinforcement was requested, the girls were already deep inside the forest.
**The “Rescue” That Wasn’t**
Exactly 42 days later, on 4 April 2024, the Kebbi State Government announced that “all the remaining abducted students have regained their freedom”. The girls were presented to the public in Birnin Kebbi looking traumatised but alive.
What was never explained:
• Not a single bandit was arrested.
• Not a single weapon was recovered.
• No details of any military operation were provided.
• No ransom figure was officially admitted but multiple credible sources, including parents and local journalists, told Premium Times and Daily Trust that between ₦150 million and ₦200 million was paid through intermediaries.
In short: the girls were released after a negotiated ransom, not rescued by force.
This Was Not Bad Luck It Was a Pattern
The Yauri abduction was not an isolated failure. It fits a deadly, repeating cycle seen in Chibok (2014), Dapchi (2018), Jangebe (2021), Kankara (2020), and dozens of lesser-reported incidents:
1. Specific intelligence is received.
2. Troops are deployed, then mysteriously pulled back or redeployed elsewhere.
3. Bandits strike within hours of the vacuum.
4. Ransom is paid quietly.
5. Girls are released.
6. No arrests, no accountability, no lessons learned.
In almost every case, parents and affected communities insist ransom was paid despite official denials. The Human Cost Behind the Headlines Those 30+ girls spent 42 nights in the forest. They were moved from camp to camp, chained at night, fed once a day, and repeatedly threatened with death or sale. One girl who escaped told BBC Hausa that some of her classmates were raped in front of others as punishment. When they finally came home, many could barely recognise their parents. Some are still receiving treatment for malaria, malnutrition, and psychological trauma. At least one is pregnant, according to hospital sources who spoke anonymously.
**These are not statistics. These are someone’s daughters. Who Ordered the Troops Withdrawn And Why?**
That is the question no one in authority has answered. Was it routine rotation? Was it a deliberate order from a commander who has never been named? Was someone paid to create the window the bandits needed?
Until that question is publicly investigated and answered, every Nigerian child remains at risk.
**What Nigeria Must Do Now**
1. Independent Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Yauri abduction, with power to summon military and intelligence chiefs under oath.
2. Public disclosure of all ransom payments made by state and federal governments since 2014.
3. Dedicated, permanently stationed joint military-police task forces in every identified vulnerable local government, not rotational visits.
4. Safe School Initiative 2.0 with armed guards, perimeter fencing, and rapid-response units funded directly from the Security Trust Fund – not left to cash-strapped states.
5. Legislation criminalising ransom payment by private citizens and imposing life imprisonment on negotiators and intermediaries (as Kenya did in 2010 – kidnappings dropped 80% in five years).
6. Use of technology: drones, satellite monitoring of forest corridors, and phone signal tracking that have worked in Colombia and Mexico.
To the Parents of Yauri**
Your daughters came home alive because you refused to stay silent. But they also came home to a country that still cannot guarantee tomorrow will be safe.
Nigeria owes you more than tears and press conferences
We owe you the truth.
We owe you justice.
We owe you a nation where no child has to choose between education and survival.
Until the person who moved those troops is named and held accountable, the Kebbi schoolgirls’ story is not over. It is a wound that will keep bleeding until Nigeria finds the courage to heal it. Never again must mean never again.
Signed:
Otunba (Dr.) Abdulfalil Abayomi Odunowo, D.Sc (h.c)
National Chairman
Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu Support Group (AATSG)
Date: Saturday , 29th November, 2025
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +234 905 353 5322
Website: www.aatsg.org.ng
As we look to the future, let’s embrace the important role our choices play in shaping the destiny of our nation. Together, let’s commit to the path of active and positive citizenship, loyal to our country Nigeria, loyal to an elected President and finally loyal to the truth.
