ACF Reacts To Abduction Of Zamfara Varsity Students

The Northern sociocultural group, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has condemned the abduction of female students of the Federal University Gusau at Sabon Gida Village, Bungudu local government area of Zamfara State.

The ACF, in the statement issued by its national spokesman, Prof. T Muhammad-Baba, said evidently that the female students were specifically targeted, and the bandits were at the crime scene fully prepared.

ACF said although official information about the incident is scanty, information reaching the organization suggests that the attack was well-planned, coordinated, and executed by the bandits/terrorists.

It said: “Efforts to repel the bandits by elements of the Nigerian Army neither deterred nor stopped the bandits from going off with a yet-to-be fully ascertained number of hapless victims.

“ACF condemns the abductions in the strongest of terms. It is very disconcerting that such a most unfortunate criminal incident is not the first of its kind in memory, but it certainly is one abduction far too many to occur in any community in Nigeria, nor elsewhere in the world.”

It said the incident is even more worrisome, being of far-reaching negative implications, among many others, for access to education which, especially for the girl-child, is subject to many formidable challenges in the best of times.

The northern organization also stressed that such new strategies should aim at the total eradication of the scourge of banditry and terrorism country-wide.

The ACF called on the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to spare no effort in ensuring that the abducted students are released unharmed forthwith.

It also urged the Federal Government to rejig Nigeria’s security architecture and to come up with new multi-pronged containment strategies against security and related existential threats bedevilling schools and, indeed, all communities.