Less than 24 hours before gunmen attacked a secondary school in Lassa, Borno State, and abducted students preparing for the ongoing National Examinations Council (NECO) examinations, six women and two babies were kidnapped on farms in the same area, community sources have told PREMIUM TIMES.
The victims were abducted on Sunday while working on farms between Mussa and Huyim District of the Askira/Uba Local Government Area, according to a community leader who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES in separate telephone interviews on Tuesday.
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The sources said two of the women were carrying their babies when the attackers struck.
“They kidnapped six women. Two of them were carrying their babies, making eight persons altogether,” the community leader said.
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According to a source, the attackers arrived on motorcycles before seizing the women and fled along bush paths.
As of Tuesday, the families had not heard from the abductors.
Asked whether the kidnappers had established contact or demanded ransom, the source replied: “No, no, no.”
School attack follows earlier kidnapping
The latest abduction at the school came barely two weeks after another kidnapping in the same area.
According to the community leader, a man and a woman abducted from a farm on 13 June were released after relatives reportedly paid a N3 million ransom.
The incidents have heightened fears among residents, who say farming has become increasingly dangerous despite ongoing security operations across southern Borno.
School attack came
The farm abduction was followed on Monday when suspected insurgents stormed a secondary school in Lassa as students prepared to sit the ongoing NECO examinations.
The attackers killed one teacher, injured another and abducted several students, prompting a search-and-rescue operation involving troops of Operation HADIN KAI, members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) and local vigilantes.
The councillor representing Lassa Ward, Jagila Jabila, told PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday that seven students and one teacher were rescued, while 35 students are still missing.
According to a statement issued by the Nigerian Army on Monday, troops of Operation HADIN KAI, supported by strike aircraft and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, made contact with the attackers around Daggu, where they engaged them in a firefight that resulted in the rescue of 10 victims. The Army said the rescued victims were unhurt while efforts continued to rescue the remaining victim.
The Army also said one soldier and one member of the Civilian Joint Task Force were killed during the operation.
Meanwhile, the Borno State Police Command has said it is still reconciling attendance records with school authorities and parents because some students fled into neighbouring communities during the attack, making it difficult to immediately establish the exact number of those abducted.
Pattern of insecurity
The back-to-back attacks have intensified concerns over the security situation in Askira/Uba, where residents say communities are increasingly exposed both on their farms and in schools.
The latest incidents also come about six weeks after dozens of pupils were abducted from Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School, another community in the same local government area, in an attack that heightened fears over the safety of schools in southern Borno.
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When PREMIUM TIMES asked Ms Jabila whether additional security measures had been introduced around schools following the Mussa abduction, she replied simply:
“No.”
Residents say the succession of attacks has left many families living in fear as the rainy season gathers pace, forcing many farmers to weigh the risks of tending their farms against staying away from their only source of livelihood.
As of the time of filing this report, neither the police nor the military had issued a public statement specifically addressing Sunday’s reported farm abduction between Mussa and Huyim District.
