Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has heavily criticized the Federal Government following the latest mass abduction at a school in Kogi State, declaring that armed bandits have effectively taken over the nation’s education system.

The reaction follows a daring Tuesday invasion by gunmen at Government Secondary School (GSS), Olowa, located in the Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State. The attackers stormed the school premises during the ongoing National Examinations Council (NECO) examinations, forcefully abducting the school principal, four students, and a NECO ad-hoc official.

In a scathing statement released on Wednesday by his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku described the Kogi school raid as definitive proof that the government has abandoned its primary responsibility to protect lives, learning, and the future of Nigerian children.

The former presidential candidate expressed deep concern over the vulnerability of students during national academic exercises.

"An examination hall should be a sanctuary of hope, not a crime scene," Atiku stated. "A school principal should be preparing students for the future, not negotiating with kidnappers. A NECO official should be supervising examinations, not struggling for survival in the hands of bandits."

He added that it remains a "tragic and disgraceful" reality that Nigerian children can no longer sit for public examinations without the imminent threat of being marched into the forest by heavily armed criminals.

Linking the security breach to deeper structural failures, Atiku accused the current administration of normalizing insecurity through systemic negligence. He argued that the government`s recent policy decisions have left public academic institutions highly vulnerable.

"It is impossible to separate this attack from the attitude this administration has displayed towards education," the statement continued. "A government that has repeatedly made education more expensive through unprecedented increases in WAEC and NECO examination fees, neglected public schools, failed to secure learning environments, and reduced education to empty campaign slogans should not be surprised that criminals now see schools as abandoned territories."

Local reports confirm that security operatives have launched a manhunt in the forests surrounding the Dekina local government area to track down the kidnappers and secure the safe release of the principal, the official, and the four students.

The incident has renewed intense national debate regarding school safety, particularly in rural and semi-urban communities, with civil society groups calling for immediate tactical intervention to protect the ongoing nationwide examinations.