Nearly 300 abducted schoolchildren released by gunmen in Nigeria, governor says

Nearly 300 schoolchildren kidnapped in Nigeria earlier this month have been released, the governor of the country’s Kaduna state said in a post on X on Sunday.

“The abducted Kuriga school children are released unharmed,” Uba Sani said, without providing further details. Sani also thanked Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who “worked round the clock with us to ensure the safe return of the children.”

On March 7, more than 300 students were abducted by armed bandits on motorcycles who stormed the LEA Primary and Secondary School in Kuriga village, in Kaduna’s Chikun district, the state’s police spokesman Mansur Hassan told CNN at the time.

Some students were rescued but 287 of them had remained with the kidnappers – around 100 were from primary school and the rest from secondary school.

The gunmen had last week demanded a ransom of 1 billion naira ($620,000) and threatened to kill all of the students if their demands were not met, a member of the local community said.

Sani added on Sunday that the country’s National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu had coordinated the “operations of the security agencies, which eventually resulted in this successful outcome.”

“The Nigerian Army also deserves special commendation for showing that with courage, determination and commitment, criminal elements can be degraded and security restored in our communities,” Sani said.

Kaduna state, which borders the Nigerian capital Abuja to the southwest, has grappled with recurring incidents of kidnappings for ransom by bandits and has witnessed several mass abductions in recent years.