Students, teachers and relatives abducted two weeks ago from a school in northern Nigeria have been released.
Students, teachers and relatives were abducted on February 17 by gunmen from Government Science College in Kagara.
Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello said he received 24 students, six staff members and eight relatives on Saturday after being released early in the morning.
This widespread number was different from the 42 people the governor had originally said had been kidnapped by the attackers, indicating some may still be missing. The discrepancy was not explained.
One of the students has been hospitalized for excessive exhaustion, he said, adding that the released will be medically checked and checked for a few days before reuniting with the family.
Sani Bello said joint security efforts, traditional leaders and interest groups helped secure the release.
Her release was announced a day after police said gunmen had abducted 317 girls from a boarding school elsewhere in northern Nigeria, in Zamfara state. One resident said gunmen also attacked a nearby military camp and checkpoint, preventing soldiers from interfering with the mass abduction.
Several large groups of gunmen operate in Zamfara state, described by the government as bandits, and are known to kidnap for money and push for the release of their members from prison.
Masauda Umar, 20, managed to escape from the school when the men arrived on Friday.
He told The Associated Press that the bandits came to his bedrooms and, after knocking on the front door, knocked on the people who responded and had everyone gathered.
“I walked out the door and I met someone, but I ran back and hid under my bed,” she said. “I’m afraid to go back to school because of what really happened and it scared me, but I’ll be back if the government addresses insecurity.”
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Friday that the main goal of the government is to get all the hostages of the school back safe, alive and unharmed.
“We will not succumb to the blackmail of bandits and criminals who target innocent school students waiting for large ransom payments,” he said. “Let the bandits, kidnappers and terrorists not be entertained that they are more powerful than the government.”
Nigeria has seen several attacks and kidnappings over the years, in particular the mass kidnapping in April 2014 by the Boko Haram jihadist group of 276 girls from Chibok High School in Borno State. More than a hundred girls are still missing.
In December, 344 students were abducted from Kankara Government High School of Science in Katsina state. They were finally released.