All 24 schoolgirls held by assailants after a mass abduction last week from a school in north-western Nigeria have been rescued, the country’s president announced on Tuesday.
A total of 25 girls were abducted on 17 November from the Government Girls Comprehensive secondary school in Kebbi state’s Maga town, but one of them was able to escape the same day, the school’s principal said. The remaining 24 were all saved, according to a statement from the Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, though no details were released about the rescue.
“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,” the statement said.
The attack in Kebbi was among a spate of recent mass abductions in Nigeria, including a raid on St Mary’s school in north-central Niger state on Friday, in which more than 300 students and staff from the Catholic school were abducted. Fifty students escaped over the weekend.
Musa Rabi Magaji, principal of the primarily Muslim school in Kebbi, told the Associated Press that all of the girls had been released but that they were still in the custody of authorities. He had no immediate details of their condition.
Abdulkarim Abdullahi, whose two daughters, aged 12 and 13, were among those abducted, said authorities told him the girls were being taken to the state capital of Birnin Kebbi.
“I am excited to receive the news of their freedom. The past few days have been difficult for me and my family, especially their mother,” Abdullahi said in a telephone interview. “I will wait to see from the government about their wellbeing, but I can’t wait to see them in good health.”
Meanwhile, 38 worshippers kidnapped during a deadly church attack in central Nigeria’s Kwara state have regained their freedom, Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq said in a statement on Sunday. Gunmen had attacked the Christ Apostolic church in Eruku on 18 November, killing two people and taking the others hostage.
No group has claimed responsibility for the recent abductions, but analysts and locals say gangs of bandits often target schools, travellers and remote villagers in kidnappings. The gangs have used kidnapping for ransom as one way of dominating remote communities with little government and security presence.
Authorities say the bandits are mostly former herders who have taken up arms against farming communities after clashes between them over strained resources.
School kidnappings have come to define insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation, and armed gangs often see schools as strategic targets to draw more attention. At least 1,500 students have been seized in Nigeria since the infamous kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls more than a decade ago, and many of the children were released only after ransoms were paid.
The kidnappings are happening as the US president, Donald Trump, has claimed that Christians are being persecuted in Nigeria, although attacks have affected both Christians and Muslims.
Arrests are rare and ransom payments are common in many of the hotspots in northern Nigeria.
