Why army’s response to Kogi school attack was delayed — Commander

The Commanding Officer of the 21 Battalion, Nigerian Army, Godiya Monde, has said troops struggled to locate an isolated school in Kogi State where gunmen abducted four persons during an examination and only got there with the help of a community member.

He said by the time troops arrived at the scene, the attackers had already fled, leaving examination papers littered across the classrooms.

Monde disclosed this on Thursday while addressing newsmen at the scene of the attack in Olowa, a community in the Dekina Local Government Area of the state.

The officer said the school, tagged a “miracle centre” for external candidates sitting the Literature in English paper, was situated in a remote part of the community, a factor that slowed the response of troops to the distress call.

He said, “The issue is that this school is definitely isolated, and yeah, it’s actually tagged as a miracle centre for the students. Ten students were brought here for the Literature in English exams, and around 1600 hours, we got the call that the school was attacked.

“Even to locate the school was not easy, but we finally got here with the aid of somebody from the community.”

Monde said troops found exam scripts scattered on the ground on arrival, which was how they first confirmed that an attack had indeed taken place.

He said, “When we got here, we saw some papers littered on the ground. That was when we confirmed that actually something of that nature must have taken place in these classes.”

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The officer said troops immediately moved into the surrounding bush in search of the assailants and had since blocked all identified crossing points along suspected escape routes.

He said, “That was how we sprung into action, went into the bush searching, and we have, presently, we have blocked all the suspected crossing points where we expect them to move with those children to.”

Monde put the number of abductees at four, comprising two students, the school principal and a supervisor who was on ground for the National Examination Council examination.

He said, “Two children were kidnapped students, including the principal and the supervisor that came for the NECO exam. We can have a total number of four, and presently, we are still searching for them, waiting for their call.”

The officer said the abductors had since made contact, and troops were working to trace their location.

He said, “They’ve made some calls so far. We are tracking them to see where they are. I’m assuring you, we’re going to rescue those children.”

PUNCH Online had earlier reported that gunmen stormed the school on Tuesday, abducting the principal, a NECO staff member and four students, with one victim later rescued.

The state government said two of the candidates were external students writing at the centre, described as a “miracle centre,” in an arrangement that did not meet its security requirements for the ongoing exams.