Kidnapped Nigerian schoolchildren will reunite with families

It was not immediately known how those statements aligned with previous testimonies from some of his classmates who had managed to escape and said a count of heads made by their captors as they marched through a thick forest revealed more than 500 hostages.

One of the rescued boys, Abdurauf Isa, who was still wearing the purple and white checkered school uniform of Kankara Government High School of Science, said he was relieved to finish his test. “We suffered at the hands of our kidnappers, but they gave us food to eat,” the 16-year-old said on Friday. “We ate raw local potatoes and drank water from the stream.”

The Boko Haram jihadist group, which translates to “Western education is banned,” has claimed responsibility for the abduction, saying Tuesday it had abducted students to punish them for “non-Islamic practices.” In a large video released Thursday, hours before the boys’ release, the hostages said some of their comrades had died during their captivity. Mr Masari, the governor, said on Friday all the captured boys were alive.

Abdurauf said he hoped to return to his studies. “My dream is to be a scientist in the future,” he said. “I will continue my education.”

Nigerian officials, including President Muhammadu Buhari, were careful on Friday not to name the group behind the kidnapping of the boys or provide details on how they were released. In an interview with state broadcaster NTA, Mr Buhari thanked the army, which said it had surrounded the boys ’captors, without revealing their identity or explaining what happened next. His government has repeatedly said its military had technically defeated Boko Haram and its affiliates, although the group has surpassed dozens of military bases and launched brutal attacks on civilians over the past year.

If Boko Haram were really responsible, analysts said, the kidnapping of the boys would mark a dangerous expansion under its leader, Abubakar Shekau, from its stronghold in northeastern Nigeria to Katsina state in the north. west, forming possible alliances with local criminal networks. Some analysts have also questioned the statements of Nigerian officials that they did not pay any ransom to release the imprisoned boys from Kankara school.

The relatively quick release of the boys was a much-needed victory for Mr Buhari’s government, for which the kidnapping was a shameful reminder of the 2014 kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok. That attack ignited the global #BringBackOurGirls campaign and drew the world’s attention to the rise of Boko Haram militants.

After three years, 103 of the girls were released by a ransom that, according to those involved, included the exchange of five jailed militants and 3 million euros, equivalent to about 3.7 million dollars. The government has refused to pay a ransom for the Chibok girls.

After medical checks and changing clean clothes, the boys waited hours Friday afternoon in a state banquet hall before meeting with Mr. Buhari and the governor of Katsina.

“Don’t let your kidnapping experience stop you from continuing your education,” the president told the boys. “Please leave the experience behind and move on.”

Outside, dozens of parents, who had traveled about 130 kilometers from Kankara to the state capital, Katsina, were eager to welcome their children. “I was able to shake [my son’s] hand before he and other released children went in for medical checks, “Hajia Mai Jida, 17-year-old Buhari’s son, was among those released Thursday.

But, like other parents, Ms. Jida said she had no plans to return her son to school. “The school is unprotected and left alone in the bush,” he said. “I don’t want him kidnapped again.”

Write to Gabriele Steinhauser to [email protected]

Corrections and amplifications
Muhammadu Buhari is President of Nigeria. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that his last name was Buhair in a reference.