Borno parents give six-day ultimatum to FG to rescue 36 kidnapped students, threaten Aso Rock protest

…The children spent more than 130 days in captivity

…’Save our children or we will take over the streets of the Presidential Villa’

…Parents question disparity in response to school kidnappings

Daud Olatunji

Parents and community leaders of Mussa and Lassa communities in Askira/Uba Local Government Area of ​​Borno State have given the Federal Government a six-day ultimatum to secure the release of 36 students abducted from Government Day Secondary School, Lassa.

Parents, who had protested over the students’ continued imprisonment on Monday, threatened to march on the presidential villa in Abuja if the children were not rescued by then.

The students were reportedly abducted in June while taking the National Examinations Council exam, after gunmen invaded the school and took away several candidates.

More than 130 days after the incident, the students remain in captivity, according to their parents and community representatives.

The protest renewed calls for stepped-up efforts by the federal government and security agencies to ensure the safe return of the children.

Leading the protesters, the Borno Students Parents Chairman, Ishaku Suya, appealed to President Bola Tinubu to personally intervene in the matter and direct security agencies to rescue the students.

Suya said parents would be forced to take their protest to government headquarters if their children remained prisoners after the ultimatum.

“I make this loud appeal to Mr. President that we, the parents of the abducted children of Mussa and Lassa, will take over the streets of the Presidential Villa if he does not save our children as he saved the children of Oyo,” he said.

“You should kill us, leave us alive, or save our children.”

Another parent, Josphin Yohanna, questioned what he described as differences in the government’s response to the abductions of schoolchildren in different parts of the country.

Yohanna argued that the rescue of abducted children in Oyo State demonstrated that government and security agencies could mobilize resources to secure the release of children held by criminal groups.

He urged the President to show the same urgency in addressing the situation in the North East.

“Why wouldn’t the President extend similar urgency to our children in the Northeast?” he asked.

Lassa acting district head Wadzani Hammatu said the situation had become increasingly distressing for the affected communities.

Hammatu further said that among those abducted were very young children, presumably aged between one and three years.

“We ask the government to save our children because the problem is becoming unbearable,” he said.

“Only God will help us, but the government should try.”

The Emir of Uba, Ali Samaila Mamza, has also appealed to the Federal Government, Borno State Government and Askira/Uba Local Government authorities to intensify efforts to ensure the safe return of the abducted children.

Mamza said the affected communities continued to look to God expecting concrete action from the authorities.

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