No fewer than 24 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, Kebbi state, have regained freedom after being freed by their abductors, barely eight days after being kidnapped by gunmen in the state.
The girls, who were abducted from their hostel by the gunmen, were said to have been released by the bandits after they were abandoned at a location where the military picked them.
The female students’ rescue was confirmed by President Bola Tinubu, who applauded the security agents for their efforts to secure freedom for the victims taken away by the terrorists.
In a statement released by his aide, Bayo Onanuga, on Tuesday, he, meanwhile, tasked the security forces to rescue other victims still in the bandits’ den.
“I am relieved that all the 24 girls have been accounted for. Now, we must put as a matter of urgency more boots on the ground in the vulnerable areas to avert further incidents of kidnapping. My government will offer all the assistance needed to achieve this,” Tinubu added.
According to the statement, “Terrorists struck at the school at dawn on November 17 and abducted the girls, moments after a military detachment left the premises.
“The Kebbi incident triggered some other copycat kidnappings in Eruku in Kwara State and Papiri in Niger State. All 38 kidnapped victims in Eruku were freed on Sunday. The same day, the Niger State chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria said 50 of the missing students of the Catholic School in Niger have been found in their parents’ homes”.
Meanwhile, the Kebbi State Governor, Nasir Idris, disclosed that there was no ransom paid before the schoolchildren were rescued from the bandits’ den.
Before the students’ rescue by the military, the president had directed the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, to relocate to Kebbi over the abduction of schoolgirls.
Tinubu ordered Matawalle to move to the state “to monitor security efforts to secure the release of the abducted students”.
