The 24 schoolgirls abducted in Maga, Kebbi State, have regained their freedom, the Presidency has disclosed.
In a statement on Tuesday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, President Bola Tinubu welcomed the release of the 24 schoolgirls.
According to him, Tinubu applauded the security agencies for the efforts made to secure the freedom of all the victims taken away by the terrorists.
He tasked the security agencies to intensify efforts to rescue the remaining students still being held captive.
“I am relieved that all the 24 girls have been accounted for. Now, we must, as a matter of urgency, put more boots on the ground in vulnerable areas to avert further incidents of kidnapping. My government will offer all the assistance needed to achieve this,” President Tinubu said.
‘No Ransom Paid’
The governor of Kebbi State Nasir Idris has also confirmed the release of the 24 abducted schoolgirls.
The governor stated that no ransom was paid by either the state or Federal Government for the release of the girls. He added that the children will be handed over to their parents on Wednesday.
“No ransom was paid. The Kebbi State Government did not pay a kobo, and neither did the Federal Government. The rescue was achieved solely through the efforts of the security agencies,” the governor said.
Governor Idris expressed appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for his concern and for directing security agencies to ensure the rescue of the girls.
Terrorists struck the school at dawn on November 17 and abducted the girls moments after a military detachment allegedly left the premises.
The attackers killed the school’s Vice Principal, Malam Hassan Makuku, before abducting the schoolgirls.
The Kebbi incident triggered similar kidnappings in Eruku, Kwara State, and Papiri in Niger State.
All 38 kidnapped victims in Eruku were freed on Sunday. On 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 had been found in their parents’ homes.
Three days after the Kebbi abduction, the Chairman of Danko-Wasagu Local Government Area, Hussaini Aliyu, released the names of the schoolgirls.
Aliyu gave their names as follows:
Senior Secondary School 2A
- Fatima Sani Zimri
- Hafsat Ibrahim
- Nana Firdausi Jibril
- Masauda Yakubu Romo
Senior Secondary School 2B
- Hauwa Saleh
- Hauwau Umar Imam
Senior Secondary School 3A & 3B
- Salima Garba Umar
- Salima Sani Zimri
- Amina G. Umar
- Rashida Muhammad Dingu
- Saliha Umar
- Aisha Usman
- Jamila Iliyasu
- Maryam Illiyasu
- Najaatu Abdullahi
- Zainab Kolo
Junior Secondary School 3A
- Surraya Tukur
- Hafsat Umar Yalmo
- Maryam Usman
- Amina Illiyasu
- Ikilima Suleman
Junior Secondary School 2
- Khadija Nazifi
- Hauwa’u Iliyasu
- Hauwa’u Lawali
- Ummu Kulsum Abdulkarim
Abductions
There has been a recent spike in attacks and abductions by bandits, especially in the northern part of the country.
The Kebbi, Niger and Kwara abductions are the latest in a resurgence of the mass kidnappings that have long harrowed Africa’s most populous country.
In February 2021, bandits kidnapped 317 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Science Secondary School Jangebe in Jangebe, Zamfara State.
The incident happened at the all-female school located in the Talata-Mafara Local Government Area of the state.
The same month, gunmen raided the Government Science College Kagara, in the Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, and abducted students, teachers, and their family members from the school.
Twenty-seven students were among the 41 abductees.
In December 2020, bandits took three hundred and three students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina, into captivity.
In 2018, 110 students were kidnapped after Boko Haram invaded the Government Girls Science Technical College (GGSTC) in Dapchi on February 19, 2018.
There was global outrage when Boko Haram attacked the Girls Secondary School in Chibok, a town on the border between Borno and Adamawa states, and abducted about 200 students in April, 2014.
