By Christian Daily International/Morning Star News |
ABUJA, Nigeria — Gunmen in an area of Nigeria where Fulani herdsmen are active attacked a Catholic school on the evening of May 7, wounding a security guard in an apparent kidnapping attempt.
In Adeke, a suburb of Makurdi, the capital of Benue state, the assailants fired shots at the Father Angus Frazer Memorial High School, wounding the security guard. Civil Defense personnel rushed to the school and foiled the attempt to kidnap students residing at the institution, officials said.
The Rev. Moses Iorapuu, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, said in a press statement that officials closed the school on May 8 as a precaution.
“The principal, Fr. Emmanuel Ogwuche, and the students are all safe, except for a security officer who was badly injured in the attack and is receiving attention at the hospital,” Iorapuu said. “We also appreciate the professionalism of the Civil Defense officers who provide security at the school.”
Iorapuu said the assailants shot indiscriminately at both students and staff members asleep at the school, which is managed by the Via Christi Society. Actions by the principal and a team of Civil Defense officers repelled the attack and averted catastrophe, he said.
Fulanis “have attacked churchgoers, farmers and villagers before, but now they have upped their game, attacking a school,” Iorapuu told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), according to the Catholic Herald. “We are not sure what is going to happen next.”
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