Katsina abduction: Student recounts how he escaped from the bandits

A 17-year-old student of the Government secondary school Kankara, Katsina State that was abducted by gunmen has recounted how he escaped from the bandits after he and his colleagues were dragged into the bush.

In an interview with BBC Hausa on Monday morning, December 14, The student’s father refused his name to be shared during the interview. According to the student, there were 550 abducted pupils.

“It was on Friday night around 9:30pm after we came back from our classes for night reading when we heard gunshots. Initially, we thought it was not in our school but later we began to see them coming towards us. We then began to run and crossed the school fences but they used torch lights on us saying that we should come back. We thought they were security personnels but later when they gathered us at one place, we realised they were gunmen”, he said

“After they have gone to the bush with us they asked one of us to count us and there were 520 pupils. Because it was in the night, I didn’t know where they were taking us to. They beat us and we spent almost the whole night trekking inside the bush despite the thorns. It was around 30 minutes to the morning when they asked us to sleep” he said

When asked how he was able to escape, he said;

“When they asked us to sit down I was then lucky to escape and hide behind a tree. After they move with my colleagues I then started crawling to the main road and to the nearby town. From then I moved on, I couldn’t see anything again. I didn’t know where they took my colleagues to. They just moved inside the bush with them.” he said