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Hundreds of abducted girls in Nigeria released: "They threatened to shoot us"
Authorities in the state of Zampara said all 279 students had been released from captivity where they had been held by gunmen since Friday.
They denied having paid a ransom, saying former criminals had helped mediate between the parties.
The kidnappings have intensified in the northwest of the country, and the president is warning of payments to the kidnappers
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Nigeria
Muhammadu Bohari
Reuters
Tuesday, 02 March 2021, 17:46
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All 279 students abducted in northwestern Nigeria on Friday were released by the gunmen who were holding them, officials said today (Tuesday).
Authorities initially named 317 abductees, but some managed to escape during the raid on their boarding school.
The girls from Genghabi, a town in the state of Zampera, said their captors had beaten them and threatened to shoot them after they were abducted in a night raid.
"Most of us were injured in the legs and could not continue to walk, so they threatened to shoot anyone who would not continue to walk," said Uma Aboubacher, one of the liberated women.
The governor of the state of Zampera said criminals to the rift who are working with the government as part of a pardon program helped free the girls.
Boarding schools in northern Nigeria have become targets for mass kidnappings by armed crime gangs, mimicking the method used by the Boko Haram terrorist organization.
The latest abduction was the second in just over a week in northwestern Nigeria.
The previous group of abductees, which included 27 boys, was also released on Saturday.
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"Most of us were injured in the legs and could not continue walking."
The liberated girls (Photo: AP)
Officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the increase in abductions was due, among other things, to large ransom payments made by the administration in exchange for abducted children.
The national government denies this, and President Muhammadu Bohari today warned against passing ransom to the kidnappers.
Authorities in Zampera have insisted they have not paid a ransom.
The liberated girls, who were covered in hijab, were gathered in the hall of the district administration building.
Several parents came to the scene, and one of the fathers cried with excitement when he saw his daughter.
Most were seen unharmed, but at least 12 of them were taken to hospital.
Frida Levali, 15, told how they were taken to a nearby forest by the kidnappers.
"They dragged the sick girls who could not walk. We walked on stones and thorns," the girl said.
"They started hitting us with guns so we could move. There were some who cried while they left."
President Bohari said the news of the girls' release had brought with them "immense joy", while warning that ransom payments would encourage further kidnappings.
He called on the police and army to locate the kidnappers and prosecute them.
"This is a plot to deprive our girls of a Western education, when we are already behind" (Photo: AP)
One father, whose seven daughters were abducted and released, said the incident would not deter him from continuing to send them to school.
"This is a plot to deprive our girls of a Western education, when we are already behind," Leval Abdullahai told Reuters.
"We must not succumb to blackmail. I suggest the government take immediate preventive measures to prevent further abductions."
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is urging the Nigerian government to protect schools so that students are not afraid to go to them, and so that parents are not afraid to send them.
The most famous mass abduction took place in 2014, when more than 270 students in the town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria were captured by Boko Haram.
About a hundred of them are still missing.
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