Students of Federal Government College (FCG) Kwali, Abuja, have been evacuated from their hostels following an attack on a nearby community.
Parents rushed to the school on Monday morning to evacuate their children from Unity College, located in Sheda village, on the busy Abuja-Lokoja highway.
Our reporter, who visited the college on Monday morning, saw some parents evacuating their children.
A parent, Mrs Babep Peace, told our reporter that she came from Lagos to evacuate her two children after receiving a call from the college management directing parents to evacuate their wards.
She said she received the call at about 4:pm on Sunday, a situation that she said prompted her to board a night bus from Lagos to Abuja.
“It was at 4pm on Sunday when one of my daughters called me through her guardians’ phone that the management asked parents to rush down to evacuate their children because of a threat by suspected bandits to attack the college,” she said.
She said it was quite unfortunate that her children’s exams had been disrupted, but it was better to take them home safely.
Another parent, Mr Obaniyi Oluwatokpe, who spoke with our reporter, said he was in Kabba, Kogi state, on Sunday night when he also received a call from the college management.
He said it was the fear that drove him down to the college; he was told that bandits had threatened to attack the school.
An SS II student of the college, Rebbeca Samuel, who was seen moving out her bags, told our reporter that some bandits attacked Sheda village on Saturday night, a situation that caused panic.
“It was at about 12am on Saturday while we were sleeping inside the hostel that we suddenly heard gunshots, which made the school management ask us to vacate the hostel,” she said.
An official of the college, who is a member of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), told our reporter that the management directed parents to evacuate their children because the bandits attacked Sheda village immediately.
“You know it is a fence that separates Sheda village from the school, and the attack by bandits on the village amid sporadic gunshots that Saturday caused serious panic to both students and management,” he said.
Attempts by our reporter to gain access to the school were unsuccessful, as security personnel at the gate denied him entry. The school management could also not be reached for comments.
The spokesperson of the FCT Police Command, DSP Adeh Josephine, has not replied to the text message sent to her about the incident.
There have been mass abductions from schools in the country by Boko Haram insurgents and bandits.
