Group hails Tinubu, Matawalle after rescue of 24 Kebbi schoolgirls
SKAiF NewsNG SNN
A northern advocacy coalition, the Northern Security and Civic Protection Forum (NSCPF), has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Minister of State for Defence Bello Matawalle, and the Nigerian armed forces for what it described as a “well-coordinated and unrelenting security operation” that led to the rescue of 24 schoolgirls abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi State.
In a statement on Tuesday signed by its president, Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Ma’aruf, the group said the federal government demonstrated “speed, seriousness and strategic clarity” in its handling of the incident. The students, abducted from their school hostel on November 17, were freed on November 25 after days of sustained military pressure on their captors.
According to the forum, the swift recovery of the victims was a direct result of high-level coordination ordered by President Tinubu, who instructed Matawalle to immediately relocate to Kebbi to oversee operations. Al-Ma’aruf said the minister’s arrival “shifted the tone and urgency of the operation,” noting that his knowledge of the northwest landscape strengthened the multi-agency response.
“From the moment President Tinubu ordered the minister of state for defence to move to Kebbi and assume personal oversight of operations, the tempo changed,” the statement read. “What followed was an intense, closely coordinated assault that left the bandits with no safe corridor to escape with the girls.”
The NSCPF said the federal government’s handling of the abduction marked a departure from what it called a previously “slow and reactive security posture,” adding that the operation showed the armed forces could dismantle criminal networks when backed by strong political will.
Al-Ma’aruf noted that the military maintained air and ground pressure on the kidnappers’ hideouts “for four straight days,” a level of force he said compelled the bandits to abandon the girls in the forest.
The coalition also commended the President for signalling that attacks on schoolchildren would attract strong state response, calling for sustained operations against bandit groups across the northwest.
It further urged authorities to provide trauma care and reintegration support for the rescued students, saying the rescue “restored hope” and should mark the beginning of “an unbroken campaign” to protect children in vulnerable communities.
The post Group hails Tinubu, Matawalle after rescue of 24 Kebbi schoolgirls appeared first on Vanguard News.
