2 parents of Niger school abductees die

From John Adams, Minna

Tragedy struck yesterday as two parents of the abducted students of St. Mary Catholic Missionary School in Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State collapsed and died of heart attack as the blame game between the government and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Niger chapter, continues.

This is coming barely one week after gunmen invaded the school and whisked away 303 students and 12 staff in a midnight attack.

Fifty of the students were said to have escaped from the bandits at a river bank where they were being ferried across in batches and have reunited with their families.

However, 253 others, including 12 staff are still being held by the bandits and there is no details about their rescue.

Chairman of CAN and Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese, Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna who is also the proprietor of the school, confirmed the tragic death of the parents in a statement yesterday by his media aide, Dan Atori.

Bishop Yohanna gave the name of one of the deceased parents as Anthony Musa, while details about the second deceased parent were not known as of the time of filing this report.

“The man, Anthony Musa, died of heart attack but the female, we don’t have the details yet because we couldn’t get the family,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, the blame games between the government and CAN over the incident have continued as parents wait anxiously for details about the rescue of their wards.

While the state government is claiming that the schools authority is not forthcoming with details about the abduction, the CAN said the management had provided all the details available to the school on the incident.