Heartbreak as 47 Students are Killed in Savage Attack

 

Governor Ibrahim Gaidam

Yobe State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam, has expressed heartbreak over Monday’s bomb attack at a secondary school in Potiskum, even as he condemned the emergency rule in the state, saying it has increased terrorist attacks rather than reducing them.
Barely one week after a suicide bomber detonated a bomb during a Shiite procession in Potiskum, the commercial nerve centre of Yobe was again thrown into mourning following a suicide attack on Monday morning at Government Comprehensive School, which left 47 dead and 79 others injured.

Briefing the press on the attack, the Yobe Police Command said a suicide bomber who disguised as a student detonated the explosive at the school’s assembly ground at 7.45 am.

Police bomb experts were mobilised to the crime scene while the victims were taken to hospitals, police officials said.

Eyewitnesses said the students were converged for the morning assembly when the incident occurred in the school said to be one of the densely populated boarding schools for boys, located very close to the General Hospital, Potiskum, in the centre of town.
One of the victims of the attack, Mohammed Isa, a student of SS 2E, revealed that the suicide bomber disguised as one of the students after wearing a uniform and was on the queue with them before he detonated a bomb hidden in his bag.

Isa, who spoke to journalists at the General Hospital, Potiskum, where the corpses were deposited and the injured students taken for treatment, said: “We were at the assembly ground at about 7.30 am today (yesterday) waiting for the principal to conduct the service when a loud bang was heard and all I could see was that I had fallen in pain and many around me were covered in blood and groaning.”

He said he was assisted to the hospital by good Samaritans who came to the rescue of the injured students and also loaded the corpses into vehicles.

Isa explained that it is the tradition of his school for students to gather at the assembly ground for devotion before dispersing for lessons, “but the suicide bomber who must have disguised as a student was with us during the assembly and must have detonated the bomb which led to the carnage”.

It was further discovered that the school was not well fenced, making it easy for intruders to access its premises.

Following the attack, scores of parents besieged the school to know the fate of their wards, while others scrambled to withdraw their children from other schools.

Though no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, it is believed to have been the handiwork of the terrorist group, Boko Haram.

A resident of the town, Ibrahim Ahmed, who spoke to THISDAY, said: “There has been pandemonium since 7.45 am in Potiskum when a bomb was detonated at Government Comprehensive School.

“We heard a big bang and since then the area was cordoned off but ambulances have been going into the school to pick up corpses and taking the injured to the hospital.”

He added: “I can tell you all schools in the town have been closed now as parents have gone to pick their children. There is wailing everywhere especially around the school where the incident happened.”

Reacting to the suicide bombing, Gaidam called on President Goodluck Jonathan to explain to the people of the North-east and the entire country the modalities for the continued imposition of emergency rule and why it has failed.

The governor, in a press statement by his spokesman, Mallam Abdullahi Bego, said: “This morning, our state woke up to a very sad and heartbreaking news of a bomb attack on our young students at Government Comprehensive School, Potiskum, in which no fewer than 35 students were killed and many more injured.”

According to Bego, the governor’s thoughts and prayers were with the parents, teachers and families of the innocent victims of the callous and reprehensible attack, adding that he was heartbroken and words could not adequately convey the extent of his remorse and sadness.
He said: “The governor has noted that this is the fifth time in a little over one year when our schools in Yobe State were brutally attacked and students killed. There was Government Secondary School, Damaturu; Government Secondary School, Mamudo; College of Agriculture, Gujba; Federal Government College, Buni-Yadi; and now Government Comprehensive School, Potiskum.

“Governor Gaidam deeply regrets that all of these dastardly attacks took place under a climate of emergency rule declared in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa States by President Goodluck Jonathan.

“In theory, the emergency rule declaration was a signal that more vigorous steps would be taken to protect the lives and property of people in the affected states and deploy the full might of the federal government to restore peace and security.

“Unfortunately, this has not been fully the case. Instead of forcing insurgents and criminals to flee; the insurgents are forcing innocent people to flee and making life miserable for everyone.
“Governor Gaidam believes that President Goodluck Jonathan has a very urgent responsibility to explain to the people of Yobe State and people all across the affected states why murderous and callous insurgency and criminal attacks are still on the rise despite the state of emergency."

The governor insisted that it was not just enough for the federal government to condemn the almost daily rounds of violence, stressing that urgent action needed to be taken immediately to restore the fast-waning public confidence by doing whatever it takes to stop the escalating violence.

He ordered the immediate closure of all public schools around the Potiskum area until a full review of the situation is undertaken.

He also called on all people of Yobe State to exercise restraint and continue to pray for the intervention of the almighty Allah.

He assured members of the public that despite the emergency rule in place, he would continue to do everything within his powers to get the federal government to do more and also continue to offer his administration’s support to all the people affected.

The governor directed hospital authorities in Potiskum to provide immediate medical support to the victims of the school attack free of charge, adding that some of the victims were referred to the Federal Medical Centres in Nguru and Azare, and the state government would foot their medical expenses.

The governor has also directed the Commissioner for Health to monitor victims and suggest additional measures that might be needed to help them recover.

Also speaking on the measures taken by the state government to safeguard students and schools in the area, the Yobe State Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Mohammed Lamin, said the state had closed down all schools in Potiskum, pending an improvement on the security situation.

He said 33 students were killed in the blast and 67 others sustained injuries.
In his reaction to the suicide bombing in the secondary school, the president yesterday extended his heartfelt condolences to the government and people of the state on the death of the students.

In a statement by his spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, Jonathan also conveyed his “deepest sympathies to all parents who lost their beloved children in the heinous attack on the school which appears to have been carried out by a suicide bomber”.

The president condemned the dastardly murder of the students on their school assembly ground, and promised the grieving parents and people of Yobe State that the federal government would ensure that all those responsible for the senseless murder of so many promising youngsters and the continuing acts of terrorism across the country are brought to justice and made to pay for their atrocious crimes.

The president similarly assured all Nigerians that in spite of seeming setbacks, his administration remained fully committed to winning the war against insurgency and terrorism.
Also, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday condemned the suicide attack in a boy's school in Nigeria in which dozens were killed.

In a tweet, the prime minister said: "The attack in Nigeria is cowardly and utterly condemnable. Condolences to the kin of the deceased. My prayers with the injured."

Source: ThisDay Live