Kaduna hosts freed pupils, 28 kidnapped in fresh attack

The Kaduna State Government, on Monday, received the  137 rescued abducted students of the Government Secondary School,  Chikun Local Government Area of the state.

The schoolchildren, who were rescued in Zamfara State on Sunday, arrived in Kaduna on Monday.

At exactly, 2:08 pm, the rescued schoolchildren arrived at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House amidst tight security.

Newsmen were barred from speaking to the children just as the parents of the 131 schoolchildren presented to the governor by the General Officer Commanding 1 Div, were conspicuously absent during the brief ceremony.

Thereafter, the children were driven with security escorts to the Women and Children Shelter, for psychosocial therapy before being reunited with their respective parents.

Six of the students were immediately hospitalised at the Army medical facility, Dallet Barracks, Kawo, Kaduna.

The General Officer Commanding 1,   Maj. Gen. Mayirenso Saraso, made this known while presenting the rescued schoolchildren to Governor Uba Sani at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House, in the state capital on Monday.

The GOC said one male student and five female pupils were at the Army hospital receiving treatment, adding that they would be handed over to the state government as soon as they were certified to be medically fit.

In his remarks, Governor Sani cautioned those he described as “merchants of conflicts” over the wrong permutation on how the 137 schoolchildren were rescued by the Army.

The governor, who was visibly angry,  also warned against politicising issues of security, noting that doing so would endanger the lives and property of citizens.

Speaking further, the GOC insisted that in all, 137 students and staff were abducted by the bloodthirsty terrorists on March 7, 2024, bringing the total number of those abducted to 138 while regretting that the staff died in captivity.

While maintaining that no ransom was paid for the release of the students, the GOC attributed the release to “the sustained and coordinated application of both kinetic and non-kinetic efforts” by the security agencies under the strategic guidance of  President Bola Tinubu through the Office of the National Security Adviser, the abducted Kuriga school children, were rescued in the early hours of Sunday after spending about 16 days in captivity.

He added that the students were initially received and administered first aid at the Nigerian Army Troops Forward Operating Base Dandadau, in Zamfara State before being subsequently conveyed from there under escort to Kaduna this morning/afternoon.

He said, “We successfully freed 137 but you will discover that six of them are not presently with us here. They are being attended to medically in our facility at Darlet Barracks – one male with five female students who have been hospitalised.

“His Excellency visited them last night and he saw all the students including, those lying on hospital beds. So, those six when eventually discharged, when they get better, will join their 131 colleagues who are here physically present to complete the figure of 137.

 “In all, there were 137 children and one staff member, making 138 persons together that were abducted from the co-located schools on the ill-fated day.

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“But unfortunately the staff member, Mr Abubakar, is not here with us today because he died while in captivity.

“Consequently, there are here at present, a total of 137 students of the Government Secondary and LEA Primary Schools Kuriga in the Chikun LGA of Kaduna State who were successfully rescued from captivity around Dansadau Forest in Zamfara State and safely brought back to Kaduna.

“The breakdown of the figure of the rescued children shows that there are 76 females and 61 males making the total of 137 together (less the teacher that died while in captivity).”

The governor, while receiving the abducted schoolchildren, without parents, decried the way and manner issues of security were being politicised in the country.

He also praised the efforts of President Tinubu, who, according to him, stood firmly by the state government from day one when the incident happened.

While cautioning “merchants of conflicts,” the governor said what was important to the state government “is that the abducted school children were rescued unhurt.”

The governor strongly warned the so-called merchants of conflicts as well as the media to desist from passing wrong insinuations on how the schoolchildren were rescued.

Rather, the governor said “merchants of conflicts,”  should rejoice with the government and the good people of the state following the successful rescue of the abducted schoolchildren who spent no fewer than 16 days in the terrorists’ den.

According to him, under his administration, security will be given top priority because “security is the number one agenda of our government.”

The governor said with the rescue(release) of the 137 children, he would now sleep profoundly, saying that for the past 16 days when the incident occurred, he had had “sleepless nights”.

He said, “I want to appreciate our children who are here with us and are in high spirits. I want to make it very clear to all of us that from the very day that our children were unfortunately abducted from their school in the Kuriga community, President Bola Tinubu has been with us from day one.

“He ensures that the security should return our children home safely. I want to thank the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, for his able leadership and all the Service Chiefs and all security agencies for their respective contributions and organised efforts.

“I want to appreciate many Nigerians who prayed day and night for the release of the children, and today God has answered our prayers.

“I also want to caution insecurity merchants and conflict merchants in Nigeria to be cautious with their utterances because, before the release of our children, a lot of people have been coming with a lot of permutations about how these children were released and what happened.

“The important thing for us in Kaduna is that the children are here with us. This is more important. As a Government,  it is to protect the life and property of our citizens.

“And under my government, the Kaduna State will continue to prioritise our security because security is the number one agenda of our government.

“We should not politicise the issue of insecurity in Nigeria. It is not good to undermine the efforts of security agencies in Nigeria.

“I want to caution the media and some elements in the society about the permutation of the school children, in my own opinion it is just to celebrate their release.

“We are all happy because we had 16 days of sleepless nights, but today we are happy the children are back and I want to emphasise that we will continue to make security efforts so that all our Local Government Areas(LGAs) and Communities are saved.”

Four killed,  58 kidnapped in fresh attack

Meanwhile, four persons have been reportedly killed while 28 were on Sunday night, as terrorists launched a fresh attack in Ungwan Saidu, Magajin Gari Ward II in Birnin- Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

A resident of the community, Idris Khalid, confirmed the incident to one of our correspondents on Monday in Kaduna.

Khalid said the terrorists invaded the village from about 11:30 pm to 12 midnight on Sunday night killing four persons, and injuring two while 58 persons were abducted.

According to him, 30 people escaped and he can authoritatively confirm that 28 are still hostage.

Kajuru, Chikun and Birnin-Gwari LGs had in recent weeks become the hotbed of kidnappings, causing national outrage.

He explained that no contact had been established yet, saying, ”Normally the terrorists usually call back after two or three days for any negotiation.”

He said efforts by local vigilantes who engaged the bandits in a gun battle curtailed the number of victims that would have been abducted.

“This is the first time the community was being attacked but only pockets of kidnapping by locals who took the risk to go to their farm,” Khalid stated.

When contacted, the Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr Samuel Aruwan and the state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mansir Hassan, did not respond to calls and a text message sent to them by our correspondent as of the time of filing this report.