Uncontrollable smile is no doubt an expression of joy when efforts hasten the desired results, just as President Bola Tinubu expressed relief that the 24 schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, Kebbi State, have regained freedom after being freed by their abductors.
The president, according to aides, was overjoyed that the promises made before assuming office and the strategies adopted to address the challenges are bringing results that prove that the administration was more concerned with ending security challenges.
Tinubu, meanwhile, did not allow the joy of the girls’ return barely eight days after being kidnapped by gunmen in Kebbi to overshadow the task ahead, assuring Nigerians that efforts were ongoing to rescue other victims still in bandits’ den across the country.
He tasked the military to intensify efforts towards rescuing other captives through intelligence and other strategies that could force the bandits to abandon their trade and seek rehabilitation.
“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.
The female students’ rescue was confirmed by the President through a statement released by his aide, Bayo Onanuga.
Meanwhile, the Kebbi State Governor, Nasir Idris, disclosed that there was no ransom paid before the schoolchildren were rescued from the bandits’ den.
The girls, who were abducted from their hostel by the gunmen, were said to have been released by the bandits after they could not withstand the firepower of the military.
Recalled that the 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”.
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”.
