Gunmen attack Kaduna polytechnic, kill student, kidnap lecturers

Gunmen Thursday night attacked the Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic in Zaria, shooting and kidnapping some staff and students. At least one person has been confirmed dead from the shooting.

According to a statement issued by the publicity secretary of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) of the institution, Aliyu Kofa, one student was killed while two lecturers of the polytechnic were kidnapped by the gunmen.

Mr Kofa gave the names of the kidnapped lecturers as Habila Nasai of the General Studies department and Mal Adamu Shika of the Accounting department.

The official also mentioned that the wife of another staff, Ahmed Abdu, and two of his children were kidnapped but released on Friday morning. He did not give provide more details on the release.

Two students also sustained gunshot injuries from sporadic shootings by the kidnappers, Mr Kofa said.

“One of them, Ahmed, from the department of statistics, died in the hospital from the injuries. While the other is still receiving medical attention at the clinic.”

According to a member of staff of the polytechnic who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES Friday morning, the shooting started at about midnight on Thursday.

“I was not on campus because with my family we parked out since November. But I got a distress call from some of our neighbours who are still living in the campus yesterday night.

“That was when they told me that there was shooting in the campus, the UPE campus. One can hear the sound from the call. It was so bad,” the official said.

She said there was heavy presence of armed security officials at the UPE campus of the polytechnic Friday morning while the school is still trying to confirm if more students or staff were affected.

The UPE campus is one of the two campuses of the polytechnic. It is situated just opposite the Kano-Zaria-Kaduna-Abuja expressway.

The expressway has been targeted by kidnappers in recent times.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how a member of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Ibrahim Dabo, was kidnapped on the road in 2019. According to a family member, N10 million was paid as ransom before the lawmaker was freed.

The kidnap of at the Kaduna polytechnic follows previous kidnaps of students from other higher institutions in the state.

PREMIUM TIMES will bring more reports on the polytechnic incident later.