Uwazurike blasts FG over Kebbi school abductions, says Nigeria learnt nothing since Chibok

Senior lawyer and president of the Cultural Credibility Development Initiative (CCDI), Chief Goddy Uwazurike, has condemned the latest mass abduction of students and staff in Kebbi State, describing it as a grave assault on Nigeria’s sovereignty and another indictment of the government’s failure to protect citizens.

Business Hallmark had reported that  terrorists abducted at least 25 students from Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State.

The attackers invaded the school in the early hours of Monday, shooting sporadically and whisking away an unspecified number of female students.

It was gathered that the vice principal of the school was killed, while a school guard sustained gunshot injuries during the assault, which occurred around 5:52 a.m.

The Nigeria Police Force, in a statement released through its WhatsApp channel on Monday, confirmed the incident. Police tactical teams stationed at the school engaged the gunmen in a firefight, but the bandits had already breached the school’s perimeter and escaped with the students.

In a strongly worded statement on Tuesday, Uwazurike – also president emeritus of Aka Ikenga, an Igbo think tank – said the recurring pattern of school kidnappings and deadly terrorist attacks shows that Nigeria has made no progress since the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction.

“The constitution calls the security and welfare of citizens the primary duty of government – federal, state, and local,” he said. “Yet what has happened in Kebbi, eleven and a half years after Chibok, is an unmitigated assault on the sovereignty of Nigeria. We have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.”

He noted that both the Chibok abduction and the latest attack occurred in states linked politically to Vice President Kashim Shettima, saying the circumstances raise troubling questions about national security coordination.

Uwazurike criticised what he called the persistent failure of military intelligence and perimeter security, especially given reports that the attackers travelled in a convoy of motorcycles.

“As always, the ubiquitous military checkpoints failed to detect terrorists riding in groups of 100 for long distances,” he said. “Military intelligence, again, failed to detect danger.”

The rights advocate accused successive All Progressives Congress (APC) governments of adopting a weak posture toward armed groups, recalling the Buhari administration’s insistence on calling terrorists “bandits,” and alleging that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government is doing “little better.”

Uwazurike also linked the global scrutiny of Nigeria’s security crisis to earlier reports by Catholic authorities in Benue State, noting that the latest kidnapping will “add fuel to the anger” of foreign governments and institutions monitoring violence in the country.

He referenced Pope Leo’s recent inclusion of Nigeria on a global watchlist for countries facing conditions akin to genocide, saying it reflects the severity of the crisis.

On the legal front, Uwazurike said victims and families have constitutional grounds to seek redress for the government’s failure to protect their rights to life, liberty, movement, education, and dignity. But he expressed doubt that justice is achievable in the current climate.

“Executive lawlessness is the order of the day,” he said. “Even private citizens openly mock the justice system with the phrase ‘go to court,’ because impunity reigns. The problem for any lawyer is convincing victims that justice is possible, and that the government will obey court judgments.”

Uwazurike lamented that Nigeria has normalised kidnappings, massacres, and terrorist attacks to the point where they dominate daily news reports, while the federal government continues to project an image of normalcy to the international community.

“It is tragic that kidnapping, terrorism, massacre have become daily content in news today in Nigeria,” he said. “Yet the Federal Government is working day and night to convince the world that all is well.”

He called for urgent, decisive action from all levels of government, insisting that until Nigeria prioritises security in practice – not just on paper – the cycle of violence will continue.