President Bola Tinubu has directed the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, to move temporarily to Kebbi State following the kidnapping of 25 schoolgirls in the state.

Matawalle, a former governor of Zamfara State, was instructed to stay in the state to oversee security operations aimed at rescuing the abducted students.

Armed men seized 24 students of Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga town, Kebbi State, at about 4 a.m. on Monday.

Matawalle, who is scheduled to arrive in Birni-Kebbi on Friday, acquired significant experience in handling banditry and large-scale abductions during his administration in Zamfara State from 2019 to 2023.

On 26 February 2021, gunmen kidnapped 279 female students aged between 10 and 17 from the Government Girls Science Secondary School, a boarding institution in Jangebe, Zamfara State. All the victims were released by the bandits on 2 March 2021.

President Tinubu had however postponed his scheduled trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, and Luanda, Angola, as he awaited further security briefings on the kidnapped Kebbi schoolgirls and the attack on Christ Apostolic Church worshippers in Eruku, Kwara State.