Reax as Boko Haram claims kidnap of Nigerian students

Nigerians were on Tuesday still coming to terms with the news of the kidnap of hundreds of schoolboys in one of the largest such attacks in years.

Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadist rebels have claimed responsibility for the abduction of more than 330 students that are still missing from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, after gunmen with assault rifles attacked their school Friday night, although scores of others managed to escape.

The Daily Nigerian said it received an audio message from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claiming the abduction, although there has been no independent verification of its authenticity.

The attack took place in President Muhammadu Buhari's home state.

The government and the attackers are negotiating the fate of the boys, according to Garba Shehu, a spokesman for Nigerian Presidency.

"Nobody is happy about the insecurity in the country, even kids are afraid of being in present Nigeria because of insecurity," said 58-year-old Sylvester Anachike, who sells newspapers in Abuja.

"Just imagine, the children been abducted in the president's state. It is unfair is not good," he complained.

Friday's abduction has become a rallying cry for Nigerians fed up with growing violence, with #BringBackOurBoys trending on Twitter as people express their frustrations.

A similar #BringBackOurGirls became an international rallying cry for the Chibok girls.

For Chiroma Shibu, member of the National Youth Assembly of Nigeria, a non profit organisation created by students and other young people from all around country, the insecurity is destroying the African country.

Like many others he criticised the lack of transparency from those who have to deal and find a solution to the problem.

"One thing that seems obvious about the security challenge is that there is no fair play and transparency on the part of our leadership," he said.

A joint rescue operation was launched Saturday by Nigeria's police, air force and army after the military engaged in gunfights with bandits after locating their hideout in the Zango/Paula forest.

If Boko Haram is proven to be behind the abduction, it could mean a new wave of religious extremism is on the rise in Nigeria.

For more than 10 years, the group has engaged in a bloody campaign to introduce strict Islamic rule, but it has been mainly active in north east Nigeria, not in the north west, where Katsina State is located.

Thousands have been killed and more than a million people displaced by the violence.

The Islamic extremist group has carried out mass abduction of students before.

The most serious took place in April 2014, when more than 270 schoolgirls were taken from their dormitory at the Government Secondary School in Chibok in north eastern Borno State.

About 100 of the girls are still missing.

In February 2014, 59 boys were killed during a Boko Haram attack on the Federal Government College Buni Yadi in Yobe State.