Abducted Schoolgirls Still Within State, Says Kebbi Senator

The senator representing Kebbi South Senatorial District, Sen. Garba Maidoki, has disclosed that abducted schoolgirls from Maga are still within Kebbi State and may be rescued within days, as troops close in on the bandits responsible for the attack.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Maidoki said security intelligence shows the girls have not been moved out of Kebbi South, adding that ongoing military operations were already yielding leads despite several soldiers sustaining non-fatal gunshot injuries during the search.

“We have a fair idea of where the girls are. From all the intelligence we have, they have not crossed outside Kebbi South. There is huge hope that these girls will be returned home in the next one or two days,” Maidoki stated.

He said he had just returned from Maga after meeting the principal, the families of those killed, and community leaders, describing the attack as a deliberate, well-planned operation carried out by economic bandits who arrived on about 100 motorcycles, carrying roughly 300 armed men.

“The school was directly targeted. They planned the attack to kidnap the schoolgirls. That was what brought them. And we had a fair idea that they’ve been targeting that school for a long time.” he said.

He recounted how the school’s vice principal was killed in his home after refusing to disclose the girls’ location.

“They went to his house. They asked him to take them to the girls. He refused. And they shot him point blank, in front of his wife and his children.”

The senator said another guard at the school was also killed after refusing to lead the attackers to the girls’ hostel.

“The other security man they met in the school also refused. They killed him straight. But the top security man who complied, took them to the girls’ hostel then managed to slip away once their attention shifted to grabbing the girls.” he recounted.

THE WHISTLER reports that gunmen attacked a government girls’ boarding school in Nigeria’s Kebbi State early on Monday, killing the vice principal and abducting 25 female students.

The assailants, armed with rifles and reportedly using coordinated tactics, stormed Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga town around 4 a.m. engaging police in a gunfight before scaling the perimeter fence and seizing the students.

Maidoki, speaking on Wednesday, explained that the attackers were not ideological extremists but economic bandits who have long exploited the porous stretch between Zamfara, Kebbi and Niger states.

He stressed that almost all major incursions originate from Zamfara, with the attackers using a well-known corridor that passes through Zuru Emirate.

The senator also confirmed that the attackers operated in the community for more than an hour, escaping with not just the schoolgirls, but also a large number of cows on motorcycles through familiar farm routes that stretch towards the Kebbi–Zamfara border.

“You know, they have these machines that have been expert in riding this machine along the path of farm settlement, even in the rainy season when crops have been planted in farmlands. So they take less than five, 10 minutes to reach a community.

“Once you hear that they are here today, in the next one hour, they’re gone. They’ve gone. And they move very fast more than the pickups that the military have,” he said.

Maidoki said despite an army checkpoint being located just five kilometres from Maga, the number of deployed soldiers was far too small to repel such a large-scale assault.

“I’m not a soldier, but I understand the rule of engagement in the army is one to two, two soldiers to one bandit. So if you come with 300 machines or 100 machines, that means 300 bandits, and you have only 25 soldiers, that is suicide. So even from there, the soldiers know their number one priority is to defend themselves.” he explained.

He noted that although the Nigerian Army already acquired land and paid compensation for a Forward Operating Base in the area, mobilisation has not begun, leaving the communities around Zuru Emirate exposed to incursions from neighbouring Zamfara State.

“The biggest problem of Nigerian security of the Armed Forces is lack of boots on the ground. The Senate realized this. And in one of our budgets, we made sure that money is voted so that about four or five recruitment centers of army personnel are open.

“But unfortunately, up to date, apart from Kaduna, there is no training center for the Armed Forces without boots on the ground. So 20 soldiers who are stationed in a particular location, all 25, cannot confront 300 armed bandits riding on 300 machines carrying 3 people each. There is no way.

“The number of the Armed Forces confronting the security challenge is very, very negligible. So the security agency was not on ground. Even if they are on ground, they don’t have the capacity to fight this bandit,” he said.

According to him, most of the bandits responsible for repeated attacks reside across the river on the Zamfara side and use Zuru as a corridor to strike neighbouring emirates like Yauri.

Maidoki confirmed that the Vice President of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima, top military commanders, and federal officials are currently in Kebbi to coordinate the rescue effort, reflecting the seriousness of the operation.

On the condition of Maga residents, he said the community has been left traumatised.

“Maga is a ghost of itself. Parents are in shock. Some still think they will wake up from this nightmare and find their children at home,” he said.

He added that only one schoolgirl managed to escape the abductors and that the school principal, earlier reported injured, is now stable.

He further described the abduction as the most devastating moment of his political life, admitting he feels he has “failed” his constituents. He said the attack hit “right in the middle of my house,” noting that the same type of tragedy once associated with far-away Chibok had now unfolded.

Maidoki recounted telling residents during elections that security was his top agenda, urging them to register to vote and assuring them that choosing honest leaders was their ticket to safety. He said they trusted him, only for the tragedy to happen despite earlier progress in pushing bandits out of more than 200 villages in Zuru Emirate.

However, he warned that several other schools across Kebbi South remain vulnerable with parents calling to ask whether to withdraw their children from school.

“I really don’t have an answer right now. Our immediate priority is recovering these girls. Afterwards, we will sit with the government to determine the next steps for school security,” he said, noting that he is waiting for a full briefing before advising them.