Panic engulfed parts of Borno State on Friday after suspected Boko Haram fighters invaded a school in Askira Uba Local Government Area and reportedly took away several pupils.
The incident happened at Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Mussa community, an area close to the Sambisa Forest. Residents said the attackers arrived at the school around 9am and carried out the operation without facing resistance.
Speaking on the incident, the President of the Borno South Youth Alliance, Samaila Kaigama, confirmed that some children were taken during the attack, although the exact number had not been confirmed. 
He said, “Yes, they came this morning, they packed some children, number unspecified yet. I was reliably informed that the abductors are the same faction that did the Ngoshe kidnapping.”
Kaigama explained that the affected children were not living in the school hostel because the school operates as a day institution.
“They came this morning and picked some primary school pupils. It is a day school and not a boarding school. They attacked without any resistance.
“It happened around 9 am today”, he added.
The Deputy Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, Abdullahi Askira, also reacted to the development, saying information available to him remained incomplete.
According to him, many students escaped into nearby bushes during the attack, while authorities were still trying to determine how many children may have been abducted.
Details of the attack are sketchy, but the information at my disposal has it that many of the students fled into the bush, but I don’t have details of those abducted,” he said.
He described the attack as painful and troubling, adding that the gunmen reportedly entered the community shortly after security personnel conducting patrol operations had departed from the area.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Borno State Police Command, ASP Nahum Daso, said the police were still working to verify the full details of the incident.
“As of now, I have not gotten any information. We are still making verification,” he said.
Attempts to get comments from the chairman of Askira Uba Local Government Area, Madu Saidu, were unsuccessful as phone calls placed to him did not go through.
