The European Union Human Rights Forum (EUHRF) has commended President Mohammadu Buhari over what it describes as the swiftness deployed in the safe return of the 344 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State.
In a statement issued on Sunday by the Special Rapporteur, Lake Chad/West Africa, Joseph Cullen, the EU is a deserving relief to see that everything ended without bloodshed.
“We commend President Buhari for the swiftness and efficiency with which the lads were rescued from their abductors. Such swiftness would have made all the difference had such occurred in 2015 when schoolgirls were similarly abducted from their school in Chibok, Borno State,” the statement partly said.
“It is commendable that critical time was not lost in returning the schoolboys back to their families. The abduction had sent shockwaves across the entire international community because of the similarities it shared with the kidnap of the schoolgirls in a secondary school in a town of Chibok in Borno State of Nigeria which took place on the night of Monday, the 14th day of April 2014 under the previous administration.
“EUHRF commends President Muhammadu Buhari and the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for this cheery outcome even as it is now apparent that measures must be implemented to ensure such actions do not occur in the first place.
“This will ensure that the priority that President Buhari gives to matters pertaining to women and children continues to remain in place since these are vulnerable people that must be given extra protection in view of the complex security situations that Nigeria is having to deal with owing to an unhealthy mix of internal, external, state and non-state factors that Nigeria is contending with.”
