KATSINA, Nigeria (AP) – More than 300 Nigerian schoolchildren, released after being abducted last week by an attack on their school, have arrived in the state capital of Katsina to celebrate their release.
The boys were abducted on the night of December 11 at the government science high school for boys in Kankara village, Katsina state, northwestern Nigeria.
The students arrived in Katsina, the state capital, on Friday, and met with Katsina Governor Aminu Bello Masari.
Dark-eyed and similarly stunned by their ordeal, the boys crowded into the chairs of a conference room, most still in school uniforms, some wrapped in gray blankets. The eldest of the boys sat in the front row and was greeted by officials.
Masari had announced his release Thursday afternoon, saying 344 boarding students had been handed over to security officials. Masari told The Associated Press that no ransom was paid to guarantee the boys’ freedom.
“I think we can say … we’ve recovered most of the boys, if not all,” he said.
The high school boys will undergo physical exams in the state capital before reuniting with their families, the governor said.
Boko Haram jihadist rebels in Nigeria demanded the kidnapping. Leader Abubakar Shekau said they attacked the school because they believe Western education is not Islamic.
More than 800 students attended at the time of the attack. Hundreds escaped, but more than 330 were believed to have been taken.
The government had said it was negotiating with the school’s attackers, originally described as bandits. Experts say the attack was probably carried out by local gangs, which have attacked increasingly deadly in northwestern Nigeria, collaborating with Boko Haram. According to Amnesty International, armed bandits, also known for rescue kidnappings, have killed more than 1,100 people since the beginning of the year in the region.
Friday’s abduction was a gruesome reminder of Boko Haram’s previous attacks on schools. In February 2014, 59 boys were killed when jihadists attacked Buni Yadi Federal Government College in Yobe state.
In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted more than 270 schoolgirls from a government boarding school in Chibok, northeastern Borno State. About 100 of these girls are still missing.
In 2018, Boko Haram Islamic extremists recovered almost all 110 girls who had been abducted from a Dapchi boarding school and warned, “Don’t put your daughters back in school.”
Although President Muhammadu Buhari cited the release of Dapchi schools as a success during a statement to the public last Thursday, he reiterated that there was still much work to be done.
Amid a cry in the West African nation for insecurity in the north, Buhari noted the successful efforts of his administration to secure the release of previously abducted students. He added that the government “is well aware of its responsibility to protect the lives and property of Nigerians.”
“We have a lot of work to do, especially now that we have reopened the borders,” said Buhari, who acknowledged that the north-western region of Nigeria “presents a problem” with which the administration is determined to deal. “
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Petesch reported from Dakar, Senegal