14 DAY TRIAL // Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan has put out a statement on Sunday describing the killing of children in a Yobe elementary school as “barbaric.”
“The killing is barbaric, completely wicked. Anybody who will target innocent children for any kind of grief will certainly go to hell,” he said through his spokesman, Reuben Abati.
“Mr. President is committed to the issue of the protection of lives and properties of all Nigerians and he wants to assure Nigerians that the war against terrorists has been launched and will continue and the Nigerian government is determined to put an end to this menace,” Abati states.
As I mentioned, the kids were killed by an Islamic group calling themselves the Boko Haram. They have murdered 42 people in a school in Yobe.
Senate President David Mark joins in the statement condemning the “inhuman” killing of children. He is asking for security agencies to better monitor and stop the Boko Haram.
“Even in war situations, children and women are protected. Killing children is akin to cutting down the future of a people. This is inhuman, barbaric and unacceptable to any right thinking member of the society,” Mark says.
While initial reports mentioned that only one of the victims was a teacher, Punch notes that 29 children died in the attack. They were shot at and locked in a dormitory which was then blown up.
“For no reason, the lives of these promising children were needlessly cut down by the heartless people. This cannot be a way of life. Enough of this bloodshed,” Mark adds.
The Boko Haram have claimed previous attacks on the lives of children, killing seven students in Damaturu, Yobe state on June 16.
On June 17, they took the lives of ten elementary and secondary school students at Ansarudeen School in Maiduguri, Borno State.