By Omeiza Ajayi
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has declared that an examination hall should be a sanctuary of hope, not a crime scene, condemning the abduction of the Principal of Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, a National Examinations Council NECO ad hoc official and students who were writing their NECO examination in Kogi State.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress ADC described the incident as further proof that the Nigerian state has abdicated its most fundamental responsibility, which is the protection of life, learning and the future of its children.
He said, “An examination hall should be a sanctuary of hope, not a crime scene. A school principal should be preparing students for the future, not negotiating with kidnappers. A NECO official should be supervising examinations, not struggling for survival in the hands of bandits. Yet this has become the grim reality under a government that has normalised insecurity.”
Atiku said the latest attack is not an isolated tragedy but part of a dangerous national pattern in which educational institutions have become preferred targets because criminals no longer fear the Nigerian state.
