Six of 137 rescued Kaduna schoolchildren hospitalised

Six out of the 137 rescued schoolchildren of the Government Secondary School, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, were said to have been hospitalised at the Army medical facility, Dallet Barracks, Kawo, Kaduna.

The General Officer Commanding 1 Division,  Major-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 those currently receiving medical attention at their facility are five females and one male student.

He said that as soon as they are medically fit, they would be handed over to the state government.

This was as the state 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 also warned against politicising issues of security, noting that doing so would endanger the lives and property of Nigerians.

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

Although he said no ransom was paid, the GOC explained that through “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 schoolchildren 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 conveyed from there under escort to Kaduna.

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 altogether that were abducted from the co-located schools on the ill-fated day.

“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 Govt Secondary and LEA Primary Schools Kuriga in 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 schoolchildren, decried the way issues of security were being politicised in the country.

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

While cautioning ‘the merchant of conflicts,’ the governor said what was important to the state government “is that the abducted schoolchildren were rescued unhurt.”

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

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 ensured 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 permutation 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.”