Anxiety at Maiduguri Girls College as students flee over alleged bandits attack

Security operatives were deployed to Government Girls College, Maiduguri, on Monday night after students raised a sudden alarm over an alleged attack by “men in black and face masks.”

The incident happened around 8:25 pm, and many frightened students ran out of the school toward nearby streets, some still wearing their hostel clothes.

Responding to the situation, Dauda Illiya, spokesperson for the Borno State Governor, urged residents to remain calm, saying security agencies had taken control.

On his Facebook page, Dauda wrote: “A panic incident occurred this evening at the Government Girls College in Maiduguri. In response, security agencies were immediately deployed and have successfully restored order.”

He added that a government delegation, which includes the Commissioner of Education, the Chief Adviser on Sustainable Development, and the Special Adviser on Media, was already at the school.

He also advised the public to ignore false information.

Residents who spoke to Journalists confirmed seeing students running and shouting along the road. One witness, Hussein Aliyu, said, “While I was passing, there was a hold-up. At first, we thought it was caused by the traffic light, until I saw many students in uniform roaming and shouting along the road.”

A Facebook user, Amos Adziba, who posted a video of the incident, said: “These are students of Government Girls College Maiduguri, running out of their hostels this night. One of the students (anonymous) said men in black with face masks entered their hostels while they were praying in the mosque. She is calling on the government to allow them to go to their various homes so they won’t be kidnapped like the Chibok girls.”

Amos added that authorities must intervene quickly “before we hear bad news.”

However, a statement from the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Nahum Daso, said investigations showed the alarm was false. He explained that the panic started when some students near the staff quarters gate claimed they saw unidentified people behind the school fence.

The statement, titled “False Alarm on Alleged Attack at Government Girls College, Maiduguri,” said the fear caused a minor stampede but there were no casualties.

According to Daso: “Preliminary investigation revealed that the tension resulted from a pandemonium among students near the staff quarters’ gate who claimed to have sighted some unidentified individuals behind the school fence.”

He added that the Commissioner of Police, Naziru Abdulmajid, urged the public to stay calm and avoid spreading unverified claims that could create unnecessary panic.

“Normalcy has since been restored in the area. Further details will be communicated in due course,” he said.

Government Girls College, Maiduguri, is one of several female boarding schools in Borno operating under heightened security because of the state’s long history of insurgency attacks.

Memories of the 2014 Chibok abduction and similar incidents still make communities sensitive to reports of suspicious activity around schools.

Very Nigerian had earlier report that in similar situation, the Nasarawa State Police Command had dismissed reports claiming that two pupils of St Peter’s Academy in Rukubi, Doma Local Government Area, which lead to students fleeing the school environment.

Since the abduction of hundreds of students from St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State, many schools across the country have been on panic and fear.

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