Parents of the abducted students and pupils of St Mary Catholic Schools in Niger State have cried out over the alleged government’s neglect of their plight.
The parents, over 200 of them, converged at the school premises where they registered their grievances over the government’s inaction as the abduction of the 265 students and teachers entered its eighth day on Saturday.
The parents also converged in the school to put down their names and the names of their wards who have been in captivity for over a week, as instructed by the government.
303 pupils and students, as well as 12 teachers of St Mary Catholic Private Primary and Secondary schools, Papiri Agwara Local Government Area, were abducted penultimate Friday after bandits invaded the school. 50 of the pupils managed to escape after two days, while the remaining 265 are still held by the bandits.
Some of the parents who carried placards with various inscriptions, including ‘Bring Back Our Girls’, ‘ Our Girls and Teachers are still in captivity’, ‘We need security in Agwarra’, ‘Is education a Crime’, said the state was yet to visit or send a representative to commiserate with the affected families.
The Director of Communication of the school and a Diocesan, Rev. Fr. Stephen Okafor, who explained the parents’ registration process, said the exercise became very important as the government had requested it.
“With this registration and the number of parents who have turned up, we do hope those negative speculations will end. Some of these parents had to travel between three and four hours to get here,” Okafor said.
Also, another Priest, Fr. Linus Arege, told newsmen that the registration, which started on Friday, has 215 parents and guardians already registered, stressing that it was duly supervised and signed by a representative of the Agwarra LGA and the Diocese.
A parent who gave his name as Dimas Joseph Mauhuta, whose son Julius Dimas (JSS 2) was among those abducted, blamed the government for saying the children were not abducted.
“The truth is that my child and others were abducted. The government should act and come to our aid instead of saying what is not true.”
Another parent, Emmanuel Ejeh, whose JSS son, Mathias, was abducted, said his other two children graduated from the school, and the school had never experienced such an attack in the past.
In his response, Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese and Proprietor of the school, Most Rev. Bulus Yohanna, expressed hope that with the registration, he hopes the abductees would regain their freedom very soon.
“It is eight days now since their abduction, and we have not heard anything yet. We are still very hopeful of their return, and we are prayerful,” he said.
The Bishop disclosed that the school serves over 50 communities within and outside Agwarra LGA and that to get the parents to come forth to register their names as directed by Governor Umaru Bago “was not an easy task, as most of them had to travel on motorcycles, riding between three to four hours.”
He called on well-meaning Nigerians and the world at large to continue in their prayers for the rescue and safe return of the remaining victims.
Meanwhile, the Principal of the school, Rev. Sis Felicia Gyam, while dispelling claims from some quarters that there was a prior warning, said, “There was nothing like that; whoever says so should bring proof of evidence. Neither was there a circular nor a verbal notification”.
The sobbing headmistress, Sis. Blessing Amodu told our Correspondent that from the day of the incident, she had been devastated and was yet to overcome the shock.
“I am devastated, in fact, I am very disturbed that the children up till now are not back yet.
“All I am pleading for at this moment is for the government and all concerned and everyone that is touched by the abduction to please help us to look for ways on how to rescue these children and the staff back to us. That is all I am pleading for, nothing more than that,” she said.
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