Nigeria school abductions: President Tinubu delays trip to G20 Summit
President Tinubu was due to leave on Wednesday for the G20 leaders’ summit in South Africa’s commercial capital, Johannesburg, that kicks off on Saturday.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has postponed his trip to South Africa for the G20 Summit, vowing to do “everything possible” to rescue 24 schoolgirls who were abducted from their boarding school on Monday in the north-western Kebbi state.
The president suspended the trip as he waits for further security briefings on the kidnapped schoolgirls, his spokesman said.
Tinubu was due to leave on Wednesday for the two-day G20 leaders’ summit in South Africa’s commercial capital, Johannesburg, that kicks off on Saturday. It’s the first time Africa is hosting the grouping of world’s largest economies and top developing nations.
It’s unclear whether Tinubu would depart later in the week for the summit.
“He now awaits reports from Vice President Kashim Shettima, who paid a sympathy visit to Kebbi on his behalf, as well as reports from the police,” his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga said in a statement.
The schoolgirls were kidnapped from their dorm before dawn on Monday, when gunmen attacked their boarding school, the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in the town of Maga in Nigeria's Kebbi state.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Waidi Shaibu met with soldiers in the hours after the attack and directed “intelligence-driven operations and relentless day-and-night pursuit of the abductors,” according to an army statement.