Katsina abductions: Ortom shuts Benue boarding schools

Samuel Ortom

Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has ordered the closure of all boarding schools in the state following the abduction of students at Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State.

Mr Ortom, who announced the decision on Thursday when he visited the Maximum Security Custodian Centre (MSCC) in Makurdi, condemned the abduction of students in Katsina State.

He said he had directed the Commissioner for Education to complete necessary steps to close all boarding schools in Benue as a preventive measure against abduction of students.

The governor said if hundreds of students could be abducted in Katsina, the home state of the president, no place was safe again.

Ortom expressed regrets at the abduction of students and on-going killings across the country and called on the President Muhammadu Buhari and security chiefs to adopt new methods of addressing insecurity.

He also directed the immediate completion of the four-block cell building his administration was constructing at the MSCC, Makurdi to decongest the existing cells.

The governor also directed the state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Michael Gusa who doubles as Chairman Prerogative of Mercy to compile a list of deserving inmates for possible pardon.