NIGERIA: 'Heroic' staff save pupils as gunmen attack Catholic school at night

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The quick thinking of a headteacher helped save the lives of sleeping students after armed extremists stormed a secondary school in Nigeria’s Middle Belt on Tuesday (7^th May) night.

Father Emmanuel Ogwuche, principal at Father Angus Frazer Memorial High School in Makurdi, promptly switched off all the lights in the building after hearing gunshots outside, preventing the terrorists from finding their way inside the school.

An officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps guarding the school in Benue State “jumped over the fence” and “the gunmen went after him, but he managed to escape” with non-fatal injuries, Father Moses Iorapuu, Director of Social Communications at Makurdi Diocese told ACN.

Father Iorapuu said that unidentified extremists opened fire at the co-educational Catholic school while the pupils were asleep inside the building.

He added:

“There were so many gunshots and they were shooting for a very long time.

“We were lucky and the Lord was kind to us that no student was hit.”

Father Iorapuu said that the pupils have been “traumatised” and “there is fear” of further atrocities, highlighting: “This attack was the first of its kind we’ve experienced.

“They have attacked churchgoers, farmers and villagers before, but now they have upped their game, attacking a school.”

“We are not sure what is going to happen next.”

To read the full article click here.

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