Days before the deadline for paying a ransom, the Nigerian army claimed on Sunday that it had freed pupils and staff who had been kidnapped by gunmen from a school in the northern part of the nation earlier this month.
287 pupils were abducted on March 7 in the town of Kuriga in the northwest state of Kaduna, according to locals and school officials. According to a military spokesman, 137 hostages—76 women and 61 men—were freed early on Sunday in the neighboring state of Zamfara.
“In the early hours of 24 March 2024, the military working with local authorities and government agencies across the country in a coordinated search and rescue operation rescued the hostages,” Major General Edward Buba said in a statement.
A security source said the students had been freed in a forest and were being escorted to Kaduna’s capital for medical tests before being reunited with their families.
Kaduna Governor Uba Sani had originally estimated that nearly 200 people had been abducted. It was unknown how many hostages were still in captivity due to the disparities in the numbers that were published. Elders from Kuriga stated Sani had informed them that all the hostages had been set free.
Kuriga parents’ representative, Jibrin Aminu, promised to provide more details on Monday regarding the dates when families were allowed to “take account of their kidnapped children.”
Kaduna Governor Uba Sani had originally estimated that nearly 200 people had been abducted. It was unknown how many hostages were still in captivity due to the disparities in the numbers that were published. Elders from Kuriga stated Sani had informed them that all the hostages had been set free.
Kuriga parents’ representative, Jibrin Aminu, promised to provide more details on Monday regarding the dates when families were allowed to “take account of their kidnapped children.”
More so in northern Nigeria, kidnappings by criminal gangs demanding ransom have become practically regular occurrences, shattering families and communities as they pool money to pay ransoms, frequently compelling them to sell grain, cattle, and land in order to free their loved ones.
Editing by David Goodman, Mark Heinrich, and Ros Russell; writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; reporting by Ahmed Kingimi in Maiduguri with additional reporting from Camillus Eboh in Abuja and Garba Muhammad in Kaduna
