How God Saved Me from the Kidnappers – Kebbi Hostel Matron Relives Terrifying Night Raid

By Emmanuel Kwada

The hostel matron of Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi State, has recounted in chilling detail how she narrowly escaped death or abduction during a midnight attack by armed bandits that left the school’s Vice Principal dead and 25 female students missing.

Speaking exclusively to Punch Newspaper, the matron, popularly called “Mama” by the students, described the horror that unfolded shortly after 3 a.m. on Monday when gunmen stormed the school premises.

“I woke up to the sound of a girl crying,” she said. “When I peeped through the window, I saw many armed men surrounding the entire school. My heart nearly stopped.”

Moments later, one of the attackers began pounding on her door, addressing her in a voice intended to deceive.

“He was shouting, ‘Mama, Mama, I beg you in God’s name, open the door!’ He kept pleading in the name of God, but I knew it was the bandits. I refused to open,” she recounted, her voice trembling.

Realizing the danger, the matron bought precious time by pretending to search for the keys while quietly bolting herself inside her inner room.

“When I saw how many they were, I pretended I was going to bring the key, but instead I locked myself inside and stayed silent,” she said.

The attackers, frustrated, tried repeatedly to hack down the door with a machete. When their efforts failed, they abandoned the matron’s quarters and turned their attention to the girls’ hostels.

“They started breaking into the girls’ rooms and taking them away at gunpoint,” she said.

Surviving students told horrifying stories of hiding under beds, inside wardrobes, and in dark corners as the gunmen moved from room to room, shining torches and dragging away anyone they found.

One student who escaped capture said she lay motionless in silence while three of her roommates who hid with her were discovered and abducted.

The attack claimed the life of the school’s Vice Principal, Malam Hassan Makuku, who was reportedly shot while attempting to protect the students.

By dawn, distraught parents who rushed to the school were met with scenes of devastation: shattered doors, scattered personal belongings, and traumatized children clutching one another in tears. Many parents have refused to leave the school premises, camping out in hope of good news.

The Kebbi State Government has condemned the attack, while the Nigerian Army has launched a massive search-and-rescue operation in the dense forests along the Kebbi-Zamfara border.

The Chief of Army Staff, during an emergency visit to the state, vowed that the military “will not rest until every single abducted girl is brought back safely.”

As the traumatized community grapples with yet another school abduction, the hostel matron says only divine intervention saved her life that night.

“I am alive today because of God,” she said. “They begged me in God’s name to open the door, but God Himself shut that door and protected me.”

Rescue efforts continue.