Schoolgirls Abduction: Tinubu Orders Defence Minister Matawalle to Relocate to Kebbi

President Bola Tinubu has ordered the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, to relocate to Kebbi State following the abduction of 25 schoolgirls in the state.

The directive was contained in a statement on Thursday by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

Matawalle, a former governor of Zamfara State, is expected to remain in Kebbi to oversee security efforts aimed at securing the release of the abducted students.

The students, 24 in number, were kidnapped from Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga town around 4 a.m. on Monday.

Matawalle, who will arrive in Birni-Kebbi on Friday, brings experience in handling banditry and mass kidnappings from his tenure as Zamfara governor between 2019 and 2023.

During his administration, armed bandits abducted 279 female students from Government Girls Science Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara, on 26 February 2021, all of whom were released on 2 March 2021.

President Tinubu also postponed his scheduled trips to Johannesburg, South Africa, and Luanda, Angola, to receive further security briefings on the Kebbi abductions and the recent attack on worshippers at Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku, Kwara State.