Nigerian Police and Tinubu’s Government Say Kogi School Abduction Examination Centre Is a Miracle Centre, Approving Abduction

The Kogi State Police Command has described an examination centre where armed gunmen abducted a school principal, a NECO official and four students as a “miracle centre”, shifting blame to the victims even as four people remain in captivity.

Gunmen attacked Government Secondary School in Olowa, Dekina Local Government Area, on Tuesday while candidates were writing the ongoing NECO examination. The victims were identified as the school principal, Elder Daniel Iyanaa; a NECO official, Mr Solomon Audu; and two female candidates, Dorcas Sunday and another candidate identified simply as Dorcas. Five people were initially abducted, but one victim has since been rescued.

Police spokesperson ASP Saliu Oyiza Afusat said the school had earlier been shut down by the Kogi State Government due to its remote location and security concerns. She said the abandoned premises were allegedly being used illegally as a “special examination centre” for the ongoing NECO examination. The police described the centre as a “miracle centre” and warned that anyone found to have played a role in the illegal operation of the facility or examination malpractice would face prosecution.

The Kogi State Government also disclosed that preliminary findings showed the examination centre was being used as a “miracle” centre for external candidates. It noted that the two female candidates who were abducted were not regular students of Government Secondary School, Olowa, and that the examination arrangements did not comply with the security framework put in place by the state.

But what does any of this have to do with children getting kidnapped?

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The government and police have offered no explanation for why armed gunmen were able to attack a school during examination hours. They have offered no explanation for why security forces were not present to protect students writing a national examination. They have offered no explanation for why a school that was supposedly shut down was allowed to operate as an examination centre in the first place. Instead, they have chosen to blame the victims, describing the centre as a “miracle centre” and suggesting that the abducted candidates were somehow complicit in their own misfortune.

This is not a security response. This is a public relations exercise designed to deflect attention from the government’s failure to protect its citizens. The Nigerian Police and the Tinubu administration have once again demonstrated that they are more interested in assigning blame than in rescuing victims. Four people remain in captivity, including a school principal, a NECO official and two young girls. Instead of focusing on their rescue, the government is busy defending its own incompetence.

The pattern is unmistakable. When terrorists abduct schoolchildren in the North-East, the government blames the victims for being in the wrong place. When bandits kidnap students in the North-West, the government blames the victims for not having adequate security. Now, when gunmen abduct students in the North-Central, the government blames the victims for writing their exams at a “miracle centre”. Every abduction is an opportunity for the government to blame the victims. Every tragedy is a chance to deflect attention from its own failures. And every day, more Nigerians are taken, more families are shattered, and more communities are terrorised.

The government claims it has launched a massive multi-agency security operation to rescue the remaining victims. Personnel of the 12 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Services, the Kogi State Vigilante Service, local hunters and other security outfits have been deployed to the area. The government says advanced technology is being used and that “encouraging progress is being recorded”.

But Nigerians have heard this before. They have heard the promises of rescue. They have heard the assurances of security. They have watched governments come and go, and still the abductions continue. The police and the Tinubu government can call it a “miracle centre” all they want. The reality is that four Nigerians are still in captivity, and the government is more interested in PR than in saving them.

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