Barely a week after gunmen abducted an unspecified number of schoolgirls from Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School (GGCSS), Maga, the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, on Tuesday arrived in the state on an emergency visit.
The IGP’s visit comes as joint rescue operations involving the police, military, and other security agencies continue in the dense forests straddling Kebbi, Niger, and Zamfara States.
During the visit, Egbetokun is scheduled to hold a closed-door meeting with Governor Nasir Idris and later address officers and men of the Kebbi State Police Command to boost morale and strategize on the ongoing operations.
The IGP’s trip follows a high-level security briefing he led at the Presidential Villa on Sunday, where he met President Bola Tinubu alongside the Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyode; Chief of Army Staff, Major General Waidi Shaibu; Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Kelvin Aneke; Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Idi Abbas; Chief of Defence Intelligence, Major General EAP Undiendeye; and the Director-General of the Department of State Services, Mr. Tosin Ajayi.
It was gathered that the meeting focused on the escalating wave of mass abductions in the North-West and North-Central zones, particularly the Maga school attack and a similar incident in Niger State.
On November 17, heavily armed bandits stormed GGCSS Maga in the early hours of Monday, killing the school’s Vice Principal, Malam Hassan Makuku, who reportedly died while attempting to shield the students.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers operated unchallenged for several minutes, whisking away dozens of boarding female students into the surrounding forests. The exact number of abducted girls remains unconfirmed by authorities, but community leaders claim over 50 students are still missing.
