By Olatunji Saliu
ABUJA, (PNA/Xinhua) — A Nigerian college reopened for education 13 days ago but the door to a bright future of dozens of students was shut permanently when gunmen cut short their life dreams in a gruesome midnight attack.
In torrents, the condolences are pouring in, each condemning the massacre. The international community is appalled and saddened, while the local community weeps and mourns.
The deadly attack on early Sunday morning, perpetrated by suspected Boko Haram members, on sleeping students of the College of Agriculture in Gujba local government area of Nigeria’s northeastern state of Yobe, has put the most populous country in Africa on the center stage.
Rescuers counted 47 dead bodies. Hospital sources said there were 40 lifeless bodies. There is still no official figure of casualties of the tragedy in which, according to eyewitnesses, bullets were fired in different directions, hitting victims like a salvo. Classrooms were razed. Hostels were set ablaze. The bushes went up in flames.
In a terse statement made available to Xinhua on Sunday, spokesperson of the military in Yobe State Eli Lazarus declined to give details about the casualties.
He said the terrorists surrounded the male hostel and opened fire indiscriminately, leaving several students dead and others wounded. “The terrorists also took away the school ambulance,” he added.
Tears filled the eyes of many sympathizers who thronged the campus on Sunday afternoon and found dead bodies of the victims laid in an open space, Ali Mohammed, an auxiliary staff of the college told Xinhua on phone.
“Some government officials have paid condolence visit to the college. This is a sad incident,” he said, giving a hint that a mass burial was being planned for the victims.
According to the college officer, many other students were injured in the attack. Most of the injured students have been taken to a state-run hospital in Damaturu for treatment.
Abubakar Bukola Saraki, a serving senator in Nigeria, expressed his grief on the attack via Facebook. “I am deeply saddened by the horrific news of gunmen senselessly claiming the promising lives of over 40 students of Gubja College Of Agriculture in Yobe State. Today (Sunday) is not a day for us to throw blames or point fingers of accuse, but rather a day to act swiftly to bring this perpetrators to book and to support our security agencies to prevent this type of attacks in the future,” Saraki said.
“If truly our youths are the future of this nation, then we must be ready to do everything to protect them. I sympathize with the families of those who lost loved ones and I pray for a repose of their soul,” the federal lawmaker added.
Earlier, in a telephone chat with Xinhua, Abdullahi Garba, a student of the college who survived the massacre, recounted his experience, saying the gunmen shot sporadically.
He recalled that surviving students fled the school premises, most of them having only the thought of reuniting with their families and loved ones reigning supreme in their minds.
Most of the students have fears for more attacks by the gunmen, he noted.
Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State promised to foot the bills of those injured in the attack on Sunday, when he visited the hospital to identify with the wounded and inspect the corpses of students deposited at the mortuary.
According to him, five students were seriously injured — including three with fractures, one with bullet wound and another with abdominal injury.
The attack happened only few weeks after the school reopened. The college was among learning institutions closed down for some 10 weeks by the government after the pre-dawn raid on July 6 by suspected Boko Haram members on a public college in Mamudo area of the northern state, killing at least 29 pupils and one teacher.
Yobe State, in the volatile northeastern region of Nigeria, is one of three states where President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in May, sending thousands of troops to the area to check Boko Haram’s insurgency.
The Boko Haram sect seeks to enshrine the Islamic sharia law into the constitution and declares war against Western education.
Earlier, Gaidam had appealed to the Nigerian government and security chiefs to take urgent steps toward ending the frequent attacks and killings of innocent people in Borno and Yobe.
Gaidam also described as highly alarming the number of lives being lost to insurgents in Yobe and neighboring Borno State.
“It is obvious that these people do not mean well for Nigeria and its unity and development,” said Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, while reacting to the mindless killings in a Presidential Media Chat monitored Sunday evening on TV.
According to the Nigerian leader, the apparent objective of the criminal and unpatriotic elements and forces behind the attack is to set back the progress the administration has made in the fight against terrorism in the West African country.
The international community conveyed condolences and extended sympathies to the families of the dead and those who were injured, while condemning the carnage.
The European Union condemned the attack in strong terms. In a statement, Catherine Ashton, the Union’s top envoy in Nigeria described the massacre as “unjustifiable violence.”
Ashton reiterated the EU’s support for the oil-rich country and noted that the perpetrators of the attack clearly targeted children and students and contended that those responsible be brought to justice and held responsible for their acts.
“EU pledges to support Nigeria in the fight against terrorism, under the principles of the rule of law, respect and protection of human rights,” the envoy added.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China firmly opposed any forms of terrorism and is willing to enhance anti- terrorism exchanges and cooperation with other countries, in a bid to safeguard world peace and stability.
Noting the perpetrators of the abhorrent act targeted innocent students while they were sleeping, Canada’s foreign affairs minister John Baird expressed his country’s deepest sympathies to those injured in the attack and the families and friends of those who lost their lives in the incident.
“We hope that the perpetrators of this despicable act would be brought to justice and pledge Canada’s support to help Nigeria fight terrorism,” he added.
On twitter, the embassy of the United States of America in Abuja expressed deep concern about the incident when it tweeted “our hearts are with the families of those who lost their lives in Gujba, Yobe”.
“We stand united with all Nigerian in this time of tragedy,” the embassy officials said further.