Terror returned to the heart of Borno State on Monday as suspected Boko Haram insurgents stormed Lassa town in Askira/Uba Local Government Area, abducting students writing the ongoing National Examinations Council (NECO) examinations, kidnapping several teachers and killing at least one educator in a brazen daylight assault.
The attack, which occurred on a bustling market day, plunged the community into chaos as heavily armed terrorists, reportedly dressed in military camouflage and riding motorcycles, swept through the town with little or no resistance, leaving panic, grief and unanswered questions in their wake.
Eyewitnesses told Sahara reporters that the insurgents deliberately struck while students were seated in examination halls, turning what should have been a moment of academic aspiration into another chapter of horror in Nigeria’s long battle against terrorism.
An unspecified number of NECO candidates and their teachers were reportedly forced into the surrounding bush and taken to unknown destinations. Residents are still struggling to determine the full extent of the abductions as frantic searches for missing persons continue.
At least one teacher was confirmed killed during the invasion, although locals fear the death toll could rise as more information emerges from the devastated community.
The attack has provoked anger among residents, who alleged that military personnel stationed in the area had departed on a patrol mission to nearby Uba, approximately 16 kilometres away, shortly before the terrorists launched their operation.
“The soldiers were not around when the terrorists invaded,” an eyewitness told SaharaReporters.
“They came in large numbers, firing sporadically and causing panic everywhere. They took away students writing NECO and their teachers.”
The allegation has renewed painful questions about the security architecture in parts of Borno State and the persistent vulnerability of rural communities despite years of military campaigns against insurgent groups.
For many Nigerians, the abduction of students during a national examination evokes haunting memories of the Chibok tragedy, raising fears that schools in the Northeast remain soft targets more than a decade after the world vowed that such horrors would never happen again.
When contacted by SaharaReporters, the spokesperson for the Borno State Police Command, ASP Nahum Kenneth Daso, said the police were still gathering information on the incident.
“I am in a meeting. We are gathering evidence. I will call you back,” he said.
The latest assault underscores the deteriorating security situation in southern Borno, where communities continue to endure deadly raids, kidnappings and killings despite repeated assurances that insurgents have been largely defeated.
For the people of Lassa, Monday’s tragedy was not merely another terrorist attack; it was an assault on education, on hope, and on the future of children whose only crime was showing up to write their examinations.
As families wait in anguish for news of their loved ones, the nation is once again confronted with a troubling question: how many more classrooms must become battlefields before security promises translate into protection on the ground?