Wrapped in orange headscarves and blue school uniforms, over 100 Nigerian students and staff who were kidnapped this month arrived at the local government building in the country's north on Monday, a day after they were freed by the army.
"There are here 131 students, six others are currently being hospitalized and will be eventually discharged when they get better," said Major General MLD Saraso of the Nigerian army.
He said one of the 138 people abducted, a school staff member, had died in captivity. The army announced on Sunday it had rescued 137 hostages - 76 female and 61 male - in the neighbouring state of Zamfara, days before a deadline to pay a 1 billion naira ($690,000) ransom for their release.
One security source said he saw 14 black bags, which he assumed contained the ransom money, being delivered to the Dansadau enclave in Zamfara State. He asked not to be named for fears of the possible repercussions.
Information minister Mohammed Idris told a press briefing in Abuja that no ransom was paid.
School officials and residents put the number of students kidnapped on March 7 in the town of Kuriga in the northwestern state of Kaduna at 287 while Governor Uba Sani put the figure at over 200.
Given the discrepancies in the numbers reported, it was unclear if any hostages remained captured. Kuriga elders said Sani had told them all the hostages had been freed.
The abduction of students in Nigeria began over a decade ago when jihadist group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from a school in Chibok in northeastern Borno State. Some of the girls have still not been released.
The abduction of students in Nigeria began over a decade ago when jihadist group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from a school in Chibok in northeastern Borno State. Some of the girls have still not been released.
The students, many of them below the age of 10, were brought Monday to the Kaduna State Government House with fresh haircuts and newly sewn clothes and footwear — their first change of clothing since their abduction.
Some of them had sore feet suggesting they might have trekked long distances in the forests where they were held hostage
The six children still in hospital will be made available “as soon as the doctors have certified them fit enough,” Maj. Gen. Mayirenso Saraso, a military chief in Kaduna, said while handing them over to the government.
Information Minister Mohammed Idris told reporters in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, that no ransom was paid for the children’s freedom and that their kidnappers “will be fished out by the security agencies and will never go unpunished.”
Arrests are rare in Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis as most victims are released only after ransom payments by their families or through deals that sometimes involve the release of their gang members. The Nigerian government, however, does not admit to such deals.
School authorities originally had told the state government that a total of 287 students were kidnapped during the attack. However, Kaduna Gov. Uba Sani said only 137 are confirmed to have been seized.
“We are here today happily and celebrating the safe return of our children. They will soon be with their family and their parents,” Gov. Sani said.
Their parents were not available to receive them and authorities did not allow the schoolchildren to speak to reporters. The Associated Press could not reach families in Kuriga town, which does not have cellphone service.
But one parent on Sunday spoke of their sleepless nights as they waited for the return of the children.
“We were traumatized throughout the absence of our children. Our children were away in the bush, with no food, and no good water,” said Jubril Kuriga, whose 9-year-old daughter was among the children kidnapped.
At least 1,400 students have been kidnapped from Nigerian schools since the 2014 kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants in Borno state’s Chibok village shocked the world. In recent years, abductions have been concentrated in the country’s conflict-battered northwestern and central regions, where dozens of armed groups often target villagers and travelers for ransom.
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