Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, to relocate to Kebbi State and take charge of rescue efforts for the 24 schoolgirls abducted in Maga town earlier this week.
The directive was disclosed on Thursday, November 20, in a statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who said Matawalle would remain in Kebbi until meaningful progress is made in securing the girls’ freedom.
Gunmen stormed Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School around 4:00am on Monday, whisking away the students. One girl managed to escape shortly after the attack, but 24 others are still being held.
Tinubu, who had been scheduled to travel to Johannesburg and Luanda, cancelled the trips as he awaited security briefings on the kidnappings and the separate attack on worshippers at Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku, Kwara State.
According to the presidency, Matawalle’s posting is strategic. As a former governor of Zamfara State, he handled several high-profile cases of banditry and mass abductions, including the February 2021 kidnapping of 279 schoolgirls in Jangebe, who were released five days later.
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The minister is expected to arrive in Birnin Kebbi on Friday.
Meanwhile, Senator Garba Maidoki of Kebbi South believes the girls could be rescued soon.
“We have a fair idea where the girls are, and we are sure they have not moved outside the Kebbi South Senatorial District,” Maidoki said on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“There is high hope that the girls will return home in one or two days,” he added.
Vice President Kashim Shettima has also visited the affected community, assuring families that the Federal Government is committed to bringing the girls home safely.