BIRNIN-KEBBI, Nigeria — Governor Nasir Idris of Kebbi State has called for an urgent reassessment of the military’s approach to combating insecurity, following the abduction of 25 schoolgirls in Maga, a community still reeling from a series of violent attacks across northern Nigeria.
Idris made the remarks on Monday, November 24, 2025, while receiving the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, at the Government House in Birnin-Kebbi.
His comments marked one of the strongest public criticisms yet by a state leader over what many in the region describe as persistent lapses in national security operations.
The governor renewed his demand for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the withdrawal of military personnel from the Government Comprehensive Girls Secondary School, Maga, shortly before armed bandits invaded the premises and seized the schoolgirls.
The attack also left the school’s vice principal and a watchman dead.
“How can over 500 bandits be moving on bikes on our highways without being checked?” Idris said. “We are doing our obligations to the security agencies. We provide them with logistics, bought over 100 vehicles for them but their security architecture is not working.”
He suggested that security officials had given assurances that deployment to the school would provide adequate protection, a decision he said he now questioned.
“If we knew they would leave our girls for the bandits to take away, we wouldn’t have listened to the advice they gave us to deploy security personnel. We would have just shut down the school.”
Idris further warned that the pattern of attacks suggested deeper sabotage.
“I think some enemies are working to truncate this government and federal government; and the house must do something, especially about the lingering security situation in the country,” he said.
“Yesterday it was Kebbi, today it is Niger and Kwara; who knows who is next? We must all see to it that this insecurity must be addressed.”
In response, Abbas said he led a delegation of lawmakers to Kebbi to commiserate with residents and families affected by the attack.
The Speaker announced a donation of ₦30 million to the families of the slain vice principal and the watchman and called on the state government to rename the school in honour of the vice principal, whom he described as having played a “heroic role” on the day of the assault.
“We are with you and we will continue to find how to secure the girls,” Abbas said.
The abduction in Maga is the latest in a series of mass kidnappings targeting schools in Nigeria’s north, where armed groups have increasingly exploited rural vulnerabilities.
The search for the missing girls continues, while pressure mounts on security agencies to prevent a recurrence of such attacks.
