Hundreds of girls were abducted from a boarding school in Zamfara, Nigeria’s central state, last week. Now the governor of the state has good news for you. Police were able to successfully liberate 279 girls who had been kidnapped at gunpoint from their boarding school. The governor of Zamfara state, Bellwo Matawalle, announced that the majority of the 317 kidnapped girls had been rescued as a result of the hard efforts of the local police.
On Friday, assailants stormed the Government Girls Junior Secondary School in Jangebe town. They used their big guns to take control of the school and capture the pupils as hostages. This was only the latest in a series of abductions that have targeted students in Nigeria. Hundreds of students were kidnapped from a secondary school, including some who were as young as ten years old.
All of the liberated females will go through a medical examination before being reunited with their families, according to Minister Francis Matawele. The governor made the good news public via a tweet on his personal Twitter account.
“Alhamdulillah! (God be praised!) It gladdens my heart to announce the release of the abducted students of GGSS Jangebe from captivity. This follows the scaling of several hurdles laid against our efforts. I enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to rejoice with us as our daughters are now safe,” stated Matawalle in a post on Twitter early on Tuesday.
In addition to the school assault, the shooter launched a simultaneous assault on a nearby military base. Because soldiers were engaged in defending their camp from attackers, hundreds of girls were abducted as a result of this two-pronged strategy.
What happened to them when they were abducted is described in these words by one of the survivors.
“We were sleeping at night when suddenly we started hearing gunshots. They were shooting endlessly. We got out of our beds, and people said we should run, that they are thieves,” said the young victim. “Everybody fled, and there were just two of us left in the room.”
The girl confirmed that the kidnappers brandished their weapons to frighten and scare the kids.
“I was really afraid of being shot,” she said. According to her, the kidnappers wanted information from the girls that would assist them in finding the staff quarters and the principal’s office. “We said we don’t know who she is. They said the principal is our father, and they will teach us a lesson.”
Following the governor’s announcement of the girls’ rescue, Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, expressed his “overwhelming joy” at the good news.
“I join the families and people of Zamfara State in welcoming and celebrating the release of these traumatized female students,” he said. “Being held in captivity is an agonizing experience not only for the victims but also their families and all of us.”
President Buhari urged citizens of Nigeria to be vigilant and to be wary of outlaws and kidnappers who may try to extort ransom money.
According to some experts, if kidnappings like these continue to go unpunished, criminals will continue to prepare them.
