Vice President Kashim Shettima and senior figures of the All Progressives Congress (APC) travelled to Kogi State on Monday for a political rally, just hours after armed bandits abducted 25 schoolgirls in Kebbi State.
Shettima, representing President Bola Tinubu, arrived in Lokoja alongside Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu, APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda, and other party leaders. The rally was organised to welcome politicians defecting to the ruling party.
His spokesperson, Stanley Nkwocha, confirmed the visit in a statement and shared footage of the vice president disembarking from the presidential jet. The statement noted that Shettima and the APC delegation would join Governor Usman Ododo in receiving “numerous political decampees into the APC fold.”
The timing of the rally drew sharp contrast with the tragedy unfolding in Kebbi State, where bandits stormed Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School, Maga, in Danko Wasagu Local Government Area, around 4 a.m. on Monday. Police reported that the attackers, armed with sophisticated weapons, shot sporadically before abducting 25 students from their hostel. Vice-Principal Hassan Makuku was killed while attempting to protect the students, and another staff member sustained injuries.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar condemned the attack, describing himself as “devastated” by the abduction and killing. He called the incident a tragic reminder of Nigeria’s worsening insecurity.
President Tinubu, through Information Minister Mohammed Idris, vowed that security agencies would work to rescue the abducted girls.
The Kebbi abduction revives painful memories of the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping, when more than 270 students were taken by Boko Haram insurgents. At the time, Shettima was governor of Borno State, where the attack occurred.
The juxtaposition of a high-profile political rally in Kogi with the fresh trauma in Kebbi underscores the tension between Nigeria’s political priorities and its deepening security crisis.
