SAN FRANCISCO, September 29, (THEWILL) – No fewer than 65 students were killed on Sunday when Boko Haram gunmen attacked the College of Agriculture, Gujbaa, Yobe State in an operation which also left many others seriously injured.
The attack is coming barely two weeks after the Yobe State Government re-opened public schools which were earlier closed in July after Boko Haram gunmen attacked Mamudo Secondary School during which 42 students were reportedly killed.
The Special Adviser to Governor Ibrahim Gaidam on Press Affairs, Alhaji Abdullahi Bego, who confirmed the killings in a statement, however, said 40 persons were killed.
Bego said in the statement: “His Excellency Governor Ibrahim Gaidam strongly condemns Saturday’s attack on students of the State College of Agriculture, Gujba. The governor describes the attack as devastating, heinous and barbaric.
“Forty students were killed by criminals and terrorists while four others were injured during the attack.
“On a visit Sunday to the injured who were hospitalised at the Sani Abatcha Specialist Hospital Damaturu, Governor Gaidam commiserated with families ofthe victims and prayed Almighty Allah (SWT) to make the injured recover quickly. The governor also says the Yobe State Government will foot the bill for medical treatment for the injured.
“His Excellency Governor Gaidam calls on the military and other law enforcement operatives in the State to intensify surveillance and patrols to deal more effectively with the prevailing security challenges. The governor notes that although there is increase in troop movement and the deployment of more military hardware in the northeast, people were yet to see the kind of action on the ground that effectively nips criminal and terrorist activities in the bud.
“The governor pledges to continue to support security agencies in every way possible to restore peace and security. He also calls for regular aerial reconnaissance and more intrusive patrols along the Maiduguri-Damaturu-Potiskum highway where many heinous attacks have taken place in the recent past. His Excellency Governor Gaidam also calls on all residents of the state to continue to pray for divine intervention for the resolution of the security challenges that the state faces, remain calm, go about their normal businesses and cooperate and assist the security agents working to protect life and property.
“The governor urges residents to continue to use the telephone numbers provided by the military to report any suspicious persons or movement in their neighbourhoods.”
Sources said the gunmen had sneaked into the school in the wee hours of the day when the students were still sleeping and headed straight to the dormitory where they were said to have shot sporadically at the students many of whom were fast asleep, killing 65 instantly and leaving many others with gunshots injuries.
The gunmen were said to have set some buildings in the school on fire and watched the students burn to death as some of the students who escaped into the neighbouring bushes with bullet wounds eventually died in the bush..
Governor Gaidam had ordered the closure of all schools in the state with the promise to build perimeter fences and deploy security to them.
Though the schools were opened recently, many of the schools were yet to have perimeter fencing and adequate security.
The Gubjaa killings came a day after another attack was launched on Benisheikh which was attacked two weeks ago with about 150 persons killed in a highway ambush.
In Saturday’s attack on Benisheikh, seven persons were said to have been killed with three vehicles including a truck burnt down along the highway as motorists plying the busy road were forced to either return to Damaturu or Maiduguri as the highway was closed with the road totally barricaded.
Eye witnesses to the fresh Benesheikh attack said the gunmen after barricading the Maiduguri-Damaturu road at about 5:27pm, started slaughtering their victims in Mallumti village.
They were however said to have been confronted by the Civilian JTF who succeeded in killing three of the Boko Haram members with some fleeing into the bush leaving their victims to die in the pool of their blood.
A lucky driver, Mallam Usman Garba, who escaped into the bush upon sighting the gunmen, and managed to make a U-turn back to Damaturu with his passengers said, ‘ I have to give thanks to Allah (God) for sparing our lives yesterday, we could have run into the terrorists who slaughtered four people in Mallumti village, but when I sighted them barricading the road, I quickly made a u-turn and went back to Damaturu with my passengers. We had to sleep in Damaturu before coming to Maiduguri motor park this morning.”
