Ni John Fru Ndi, National Chairman of the opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) party has said he will lead the search for the 79 students abducted from Presbyterian Secondary School (PSS) Nkwen if they are not freed soonest.
Parents and Guardians have this Tuesday November 6, continued to stream into PSS Nkwen premises where 79 students and 3 staff members were abducted in the early hours of Monday November 5, 2018.
“I came today after getting the news because I have two kids in this school. They attended Cameroon Protestant College in Bali until they were brought to PSS Nkwen last Saturday and I was told on Monday students had been abducted from here…the school authorities have asked us to wait…I am not happy with the handling of the situation because I have not seen my kids. I don’t know if they are among the abducted…the government has made no statements yet,” Mr. Tabufor David Fru, a parent, told MMI today.
The whereabouts of the 82 abducted is still unknown but school authorities have confirmed they are fine.
“I have spoken with the principal who is among the 82 and she says they are fine and will be released soon,” Njitah Wilson Principal of CPC Bali revealed.
Afuh Stephen, President of the Presbyterian Education Authority Teachers Trade Union (PEATU) said: “I also received the said video…with my contacts at the school we have not been able to identify them, though we are still investigating this sad incident…the school says they had made a head count and discovered 79 students and 3 staff members were taken away…for now that is the authentic information”.
While describing the situation as an unfortunate one, he adds that “the 82 persons where taken away on the night of Sunday breaking Monday”.
Neither the school administration nor anyone else has been able to identify any of the 11 boys in the video that has since gone viral.
Ni John Fru Ndi, National Chairman of the Social Democratic Front party is the second personality to have visited the school since the incident happened. In a bit to calm the angry parents, an exchange broke out. A parent told the charismatic SDF Chairman: “I cannot go home because am confused. I don’t know if my child was among the abducted. So, I want school authorities to present the list for us to check”.
Meanwhile school authorities have kept the rest of the students in class while the list of those abducted has not been made available to the parents, some of whom have since been in tears.
The Chairman finally calmed the parents saying: “I’m worried as those kidnapped are my grand children.”
While hoping before long they will be released, Chairman Fru Ndi maintained that: “the people who carried out the abduction are from the government…am worried that with members of the armed forces in various school like Sacred Heart, and other conventional institutions of learning arson attacks have successfully been carried out in schools…we strongly believe the Biya Government wants to destroy the educational structures in the North West as the region has been leading as the seed of education…if a counter group has not been formed to counter true fighters of the Anglophone course how comes the truth is not being told?”
Fru Ndi has therefore added his voice to the call for the captors to release these students alongside the three staff members.
“The abducters should free the abducted soonest, otherwise I will call on parents and the true fighters for the liberation of the Anglophone course and we go to the bushes and look for our children. This I will take the lead,” Ni John Fru Ndi concludes.
We could not confirm claims that, government is behind the attack, as authorities in the restive North West and South West regions have pledged to secure students and pupils in School.
The PCC in a release has said the viral video, portraying 11 allege students kidnapped from PSS Nkwen, was shot since October 31st, when the the students from CPC were kidnapped but were later released after ransom was paid to the kidnappers.
This recent attack on the Presbyterian Secondary School Nkwen adds to the many attacks on schools in the North West region since the start of the crisis in the two English speaking regions of Cameroon.
Mbuh Stella (MMI)