Former Vice-president and the People Democratic Party's presidential candidate in the 2019 general election Atiku Abubakar has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency over the state of insecurity in the country.

He said this after it was reported that bandits attacked a secondary school in Katsina and abducted about 600 students.

Atiku who stated this in a statement on Sunday said that it was now obvious that the strategies being deployed by the government in tackling insecurity had failed and must be abandoned for better ones, accused to InsideNaija.

The Adamawa-born politician said the abduction of the students at the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara was a very unwelcome escalation of the worsening insecurity in the country.

Atiku condemned the abduction of the students in the strongest possible terms and sympathised with the parents, the government and people of Katsina while praying for their safe return to their families.

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The former Vice President called on security agencies in the country to immediately swing to action and rescue the missing students.

Atiku stated: ''I, therefore, call on the Federal Government to immediately declare a state of emergency in states bedevilled by banditry and terrorism, for an offensive and decisive war on terror and insecurity.''

“For the avoidance of doubt, the emergency I call for should follow the steps prescribed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), and case law, by leaving all democratically elected state and local government structures intact.

''The rationale is quite simple: We cannot win the war on terror by continuing with the same strategies we have deployed over the last five years. That they have not worked is very glaring, with the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara incidence being the latest in a long line of proofs.''