The abducted schoolboys and staff of Government Science Secondary School Kagara, in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, released Saturday 27 February 2021, have arrived in Minna, the state capital.
According to a source in Minna, the released victims consist of schoolchildren, some girls and their family members.
The students were said to have been taken to a location away from the Government House in Minna.
Although it is not certain whether a ransom was paid to secure the release of the students, a worry that is not important to securing the lives of the abductees, Governor Bello has repeatedly said his administration would not pay money to the bandits.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has said he is happy to know that the abducted students have been released.
The President, in a statement issued Saturday by his spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, welcome the students’ release, commending the nation’s security and intelligence agencies and the government of Niger State for their responses in securing the release.
“We are happy they have been released,” Buhari said while sympathising with the staff and the students, their parents and friends on this ordeal.
He, however, warned that the country will not continue to suffer these attacks that threaten the growth of education, the security and life of the future leaders at the same time putting the nation in a negative light.
Buhari also reiterated his earlier advice to school owners, particularly the state and local governments, as well as religious organizations to scale up security around their schools in line with the standards laid down by the UN-backed Safe School Programme of the administration.
President Buhari once again condemned the school abductions, with latest one at the Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara State.
He also irected all security and intelligence agencies in the country to hunt down the culprits and bring them to justice.
