Bandits wrote letters to Niger school before attack – Residents

More facts emerged yesterday about how gunmen invaded the St. Mary’s Catholic Missionary School, Papiri in Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State after two warning letters to the school.

Sources in the Papiri community said they were not surprised by the attack, recalling that the bandits had on two occasions written to the school, informing the management of their intention to invade the school. They also recalled a similar attack on the convoy of the member representing Agwara/Borgu Federal Constituency Hon. Jafaru Mohammed Ali in which six soldiers were killed.

According to our source, one of such letters by the bandits informed the relocation of foreign missionaries in the school.

“After the bandits wrote that they were coming, the management decided to engage the services of local vigilantes to provide security for the students.

“But after some time when the management didn’t hear anything again, they decided to disengage the vigilantes,” our source added.

Although this could not be confirmed from the management of the school as no members of the staff was ready to comment on the incident, the state government statement which alleged that there were security reports of an impending attack by bandits in the area seems to corroborate this submission.

Our source who provided further details of the attack disclosed that the majority of those abducted were students from the primary section which was the first point of call by the bandits.

He said while the bandits were busy loading pupils at the primary section, the majority of the secondary students managed to scale the fence into the thick bush.

“As I speak with you, nobody can tell the exact number of students that were kidnapped.

It was gathered that the truck broke down midway into the journey and was later abandoned by the bandits who later matched the students into the bush.

He added that the APC youth leader in the local government identified as Alhaji Musa was also whisked away by the bandits.

The usually reliable source said soldiers arrived at the community about 9:00am, long after the bandits had escaped.(The Sun)