Some of the survivors of last Saturday’s midnight attack on the students of the College of Agriculture, Gujba, Yobe State, which about 70 students were killed, have narrated how they escaped death by the whiskers, jumping through the window when the gunmen stormed the hostel.
The survivors, who are now receiving medical treatment at the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital, following injuries received during the attack told LEADERSHIP yesterday that the gunmen, who were cladded in military camouflage stormed the school in a commando style and opened fire on them.
According to Adamu Mohammed, a final year student of Animal Husbandry department when it dawned on the students that the school was surrounded by the gunmen, all the students were confused and began to seek escape routes.
He said, “We were all sleeping in the hostel when one of our students came into their room in a confused state, saying they will kill us, they will kill us. When we heard this, everybody in the hostel became confused.
“There was no light and we could not go out while we don’t know where to go in the night. Some of my colleagues decided to go into security office to report what they had seem.
“When we were trying to come out from our hostel, we saw many people with army uniforms and immediately, they started shooting us from different directions. They killed many of my friends, but some of us managed to escape through the window of our room, I ran into the bush.”
Another survivor, who gave his name as Sule, said he lost two of his brothers in the attack. He lamented that the attack had left everyone completely devastated.
He said, “Let me tell you that in the recent attack, I lost my two blood brothers. I had to run with them in the bush but no success, we are suffering most in the ongoing Boko Haram crisis. We have lost our brothers and sisters, parents, children and friends. The crisis has impacted negatively on our studies and daily activities were collapsed.”
The Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital where the wounded were taken to for treatment and the remains of the dead were deposited was a beehive of activities as relations and sympathisers thronged the place to see the spectacle left by the attack.
A father of one of the victims, 18-year-old Ahmadu, Alhaji Ado Adamu, described what happened as barbaric and unIslamic.
He said, “Let me tell you that no one in his right senses will destroy the place of learning, destroy houses of the poor and kill innocent people. God is with us, from God we came and to him we shall return. I lost my first son Ahmadu. He is kind, dedicated and very honest. May God Almighty grant my late son Aljanna Firdausi.
US condemns terrorist attacks in Nigeria
Meanwhile, the United States Government has condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Nigeria by the Boko Haram especially the attack that killed over 60 students in the College of Agriculture in Yobe State.
In a statement by the US State Department Spokesperson, Jen Psaki, the world’s sole Superpower said it stands with Nigeria at 53 years of Independence in rejecting the many attacks by Boko Haram and other extremist groups.
The Ombatse cult group in Nasarawa State has also carried out attacks in the area that have led to the deaths of more than 100 persons and displaced many more. Also, Plateau, Zamfara, and Kebbi States have seen gunmen attacking villages and rustling cattle and kidnapping women. Most of these attacks have caught Nigeria’s security agencies napping.
The US said, “These attacks on innocent civilians have no place in a democratic society. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in these senseless acts of violence.”
It encouraged the Nigerian government to protect the lives of civilians, which is the first obligation of any government, and ensure that those who carried out these attacks are apprehended, without compromising the rule of law, and brought to justice.
Yobe students’ killing: Nigerian children observe one-minute silence for victims
Some Nigerian children yesterday in Abuja observed a one-minute silence for the students of College of Agriculture, Gujba in Yobe killed on Sept. 29 by some suspected gunmen.
The children, who were led by First Lady Patience Jonathan, performed the act at the 53rd Independence Anniversary Children’s Party she organised at the Banquet Hall of the State House.
“During the moment of silence, I prayed to God to forgive their (the late students) sins and grant them the best of paradise.
“But I am sad this kind of thing happened and I pray that Nigeria will soon be freed of all these sad killings,’’ 12-year-old Tijani Mustapha, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the party, said.
Yobe killings barbaric, unpardonable- Shehu Sani
Also, the president, Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, Malam Shehu Sani has described the killing of students in Yobe by suspected Boko Haram terrorists on Sept. 28 as “a barbaric display of lunacy’’.
No comments:
Post a Comment