ABUJA, Nigeria – Days before gunmen stormed a high school in the northwestern state of Zamfara, Nigeria and kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls, school authorities and local security forces were warned that there was a threat of danger in the city, especially in the area where the school is located, according to local residents .
On Friday, heavily armed militants seized at least 315 girls who were attending Government Girls’ Secondary School in the town of Jangebe. The militants arrived on motorcycles at about 1:30 a.m. local time and marched the kidnapped girls into the nearby forest, leaving relatives of the victims distraught and fearful. Residents said ‘strange men’ had patrolled the school and intimidated local community members near the school days before the kidnappings took place.
“Suddenly we saw strange men on the street [leading to the Government Girls’ Secondary School] pretend there are vigilantes at night, ”Danlami Umar, who lives near the school, told The Daily Beast. “They stopped passers-by and asked them where they were going.”
The men had occupied the neighborhood around the school two days prior to the incident, harassing pedestrians and prompting residents to notify police officers of their activities.
“As soon as we reported them, they disappeared from the area,” said Umar. “We then told the police to strengthen security around the school, but that didn’t happen.”
But those who lived close to the school were not the only ones to express concerns about the security situation in the area. Some family members, The Daily Beast found, had asked the school authorities to close the boarding house and allow the girls to take classes as day students due to increasing reports of criminal activity in nearby areas. Their pleas fell on deaf ears.
“People complained that their homes were raided by gunmen at night and their children are constantly harassed by these crooks, so some parents asked the school to close the boarding house in case these criminals decide to visit the school one day. Jibril Abubakar, whose niece attends the school but is not among the missing, told The Daily Beast.
“Unfortunately, someone at the school said that the authorities could not close the dormitories themselves because they claimed they needed permission from the Ministry of Education,” Abubakar added.
Concerns about the safety of their children had forced some parents to prevent their children from returning to their dormitories, instead attending the school as day students, Abubakar said. The move could have saved more girls from kidnapping on Friday.
“Some parents saw this coming and did the right thing by keeping their daughters away from the boarding house,” said Abubakar. “If not, more than 500 girls from the school would be missing today.”
No group has claimed responsibility for Friday’s kidnappings, which took place more than a week after 42 people, including 27 schoolboys, were kidnapped in a similar attack on a government school in the north-central state of Niger. The boys have not yet been found.
Nearly 24 hours after the Jangebe schoolgirls were seized, a joint operation involving police and military has so far been unable to trace their location. “There is information that they have been moved to a neighboring forest, and we are following and are careful,” said Abutu Yaro, Zamfara Police Commissioner, at a news conference late on Friday.
Growing insecurity in parts of northwestern and north-central Nigeria, especially after hundreds of schoolboys were kidnapped in Katsina state last December, has forced the governments of two regions to close boarding schools in vulnerable areas. Zamfara’s government waited until Friday’s kidnappings before taking similar actions. But for many in the troubled city of Jangebe, the move came too late.
“If they had acted in time, the girls would have been with their families and no one would beg the army to find their daughters,” said Abubakar. “This carelessness of the government must stop.”