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.