President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday directed the military and other security agencies to ensure safe and early release of the abducted 140 students of Bethel Baptist High School Kaduna and other victims in the country. The President, who gave the directive in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, expressed serious concern over attacks on students in Kaduna and Niger States. Gunmen on motorbikes had on Monday morning abducted the students from the school located in Maramara village, Chikun local government area of Kaduna State. Buhari, who spoke on the ongoing deployment of additional security personnel to all troubled areas in the country, urged security agents to “act swiftly” to rescue all school boys and girls in the affected states and ensure their safe return. He said the disturbing incidents of students’ abduction, mostly in Northern states, was already threatening to undermine efforts in boosting school enrolments in states that were adjudged educationally backward. The President implored state governments to ensure compliance with the United Nations-supported Safe Schools Programme, which the Federal Government had adopted.