Why Terrorists Abducted Katsina University Students – Vice Chancellor Makes Troubling Revelation
According to the vice chancellor of Federal University, Dutsin Ma, Katsina State, Armaya’u Bichi, the terrorists who kidnapped five students were seeking revenge for an attack on their gang members’ relatives by security forces. Mr. Bichi disclosed this information during negotiations for the students’ release.
The incident occurred on Wednesday when the terrorists raided the off-campus residence of the female students in the Mariamoh Ajiri area of Dutsin Ma town. However, Mr. Bichi did not specify whether a ransom was demanded for their release.
“Discussions are ongoing with them (terrorists). Security agencies in the state are doing their best (to rescue the students). They (terrorists) have spoken and they said it was a revenge for an attack on their (terrorists) parents in Batsari Local Government. Houses belonging to their parents were burnt down and their cattle as well as grains took away.
“They wanted to avenge the attack in Batsari but another terror group leader was not in support of their actions and he stopped them so they came to Dutsin Ma to take the revenge.
“But they (terrorists) have been told the truth that the people of Dutsin Ma and the students have done nothing wrong to them so they should release the abducted students. We believe that by God’s grace, they’ll release them,” Mr Bichi added.
He said students were warned to stop living in some areas of the town due to their vulnerability to attacks.
“Our university is fenced, we’ve also dug trenches around the wall. When I was appointed VC, I wrote to the commander in Katsina to give us soldiers and 30 have been sent to us. We also have 30 policemen, we’ve also hired about 60 vigilante group members who conduct patrol at night.
“We’ve an area where we advised that students should live (off campus) but these ones live about two kilometres from where we asked them to live,” he said.
Mr. Bichi emphasized that the university is collaborating closely with security agencies to facilitate the safe rescue of the abducted students.
The north-western region of Nigeria has experienced a surge in banditry, with the recent abductions at Federal University Gusau and Federal University Dutsin Ma highlighting this escalating threat.
Terrorist groups, particularly in Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna, and Kebbi, have been targeting and either abducting or killing residents in communities and along major and local highways. They then demand ransoms, sometimes amounting to millions of naira, for the release of the captives.
