In a statement, Samuel Aruwan, commissioner of the Kaduna State Ministry of Homeland Security and Home Affairs, said 180 students were rescued by soldiers, who “committed armed bandits.”
“Troops successfully rescued 180 civilians; 42 students, eight staff members and 130 male students … some 30 students, a mix of men and women, have yet to be considered,” the statement said. .
However, some of the students told a different story. Ezra Jona, 25, told CNN that the kidnappers had left the site long before the soldiers arrived.
“The bandits had already disappeared when the soldiers came to rescue us. They evacuated us to the barracks. I was very confused and fearful,” Jona said.
Daniel Atep 24, remembers jumping over a fence to get away from the kidnappers.
“We kept running while we heard the sound of gunfire and hid in the woods,” he told CNN.
“Later, when the bandits had left, we saw soldiers looking around the jungle and we went out. We were about 11, so they took us to school and their barracks afterwards.”
Zainab Umar, 24, told CNN that one of his classmates is among the missing students.
“First they attacked the boys’ hostel … then they told one of them to take them to our hostel. When they got there, they told him to lie down and put a gun to his head and shouted for him to come out. everyone. “
Umar recalls that some of the students asked the attackers to allow them to put on clothes. Some were allowed, but others were taken naked, he said.
Umar said he escaped capture by hiding under the bed as there was an electrical outage.
“They didn’t see us because NEPA (local energy supplier) had taken the light. They came back a few minutes later and said, ‘We’re soldiers, get out.’ Some of the girls came out and took them away.”
“They had already left before the royal soldiers came,” he added.
CNN was unable to reach Aruwan to comment on the students’ version of events.
The Federal College of Forestry and Co-education Mechanization is a higher education institution located in Afaka, a forestry community close to the military barracks of the Nigerian Defense Academy.
Students are between 19 and 25 years old on average and specialize in agricultural studies.
This abduction is the latest in a series of similar abduction cases. More than 300 schoolgirls were abducted from a school in Zamfara state, also in northwestern Nigeria, earlier this month.
Rescue hijacking is common in some parts of Nigeria and has become a major security challenge. State governors regularly pay ransoms to ensure the safety of victims, but rarely admit to doing so.