.says incident a direct challenge to Nigeria’s leadership, collective humanity
By Our Reporter
A group of women, under the aegis of Voices for Inclusion and Equity for Women (VIEW), has strongly condemned the abduction of schoolgirls from Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School, Maga, Kebbi State, describing the incident as a direct challenge to Nigeria’s leadership and collective humanity.
VIEW is a coalition operating across North Central, North-East and North-West Nigeria, dedicated to promoting equitable, inclusive and just societies for women.
Recalled that armed men stormed the school on Monday, killed the Vice Principal, Hassan Makuku, and abducted 25 students.
The women group expressed this concern in a strongly worded statement signed by Asmau Joda, Maryam Uwais, Mairo Mandara, Aisha Oyebode, Fatima Akilu, Kadaria Ahmed, Larai Ocheja Amusan and Ier Jonathan-Ichaver, copy of which was made available to newsmen, saying that the latest tragedy underscores the Nigerian State’s continuing failure to protect its most vulnerable citizens.
Many of the women who signed the statement were active in the "Bring Back Our Girls" movement and had spent years working directly with communities traumatised by insecurity.
VIEW, while insisting that the mass kidnapping "is not simply another security incident" but a brutal indictment of years of unfulfilled promises and weak implementation of the Safe Schools Initiative, noted that despite national grief and global attention, following the mass abductions in Chibok, Dapchi, Jangebe, and numerous smaller attacks across the North, schools remained dangerously exposed.
"More than a decade after repeated tragedies, Northern Nigeria is still one of the most dangerous places in the world for a girl to pursue an education,” the statement read.
"Our daughters are once again missing. And we must ask, with pain, anger and clarity, where are our leaders?" it queried.
VIEW accused political leaders, security agencies, and northern representatives of failing to defend girls who already faced significant cultural and economic barriers, warning that the growing pattern of abductions raises disturbing questions about whether neglect was contributing to the continued marginalisation of northern girls.
The women group demanded swift, intelligence-driven rescue operations and daily public updates, and further warned against the slow and poorly coordinated responses that had characterised previous tragedies.
VIEW called on the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu; the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu; the Kebbi State Governor, Kebbi State Governor, Nasir Idris, the Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF), the Northern Senators’ Forum, the Arewa House of Representatives Caucus, the Arewa Consultative Forum, and all traditional, faith-based, and security leaders, including the National Security Adviser (NSA), Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and Inspector-General of Police (IGP), to show visible leadership.
The group, while making the call, said this was not a moment for silence or excuses, demanding that "the abduction of the Maga girls must be treated as a national emergency—not a political talking point or a press release moment.
"This is not a moment for silence or excuses. The abduction of the Maga girls must be treated as a national emergency—not a political talking point or a press release moment," VIEW demanded.
"Every moment these girls spend in captivity deepens their trauma and increases the danger they face," it said.
The group, however, urged Nigerian women to unite and demand accountability, declaring that northern women were tired of mourning and of leaders offering condolences instead of concrete solutions.
“No nation can claim to value its future while abandoning its daughters to violence.
"The girls of Maga must be located, rescued, and reunited with their families without delay. Nothing is more urgent. Nothing is more important. Their return is a test of our leadership and our humanity," VIEW said.
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