By Femi Oyelola
It is no longer news that all the 137 schoolchildren kidnapped from Government Secondary School, Kuriga in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State have regained their freedom. The cheering news filtered out Sunday morning via a statement issued by Governor Uba Sani. And that has put paid to the trauma and long lonely nights that the victim’s parents had gone through while the abduction lasted. The children have since been reunited with their families by the Nigerian authorities.
What, however, is still news is the fact that the authoritoes said no ransom was paid to secure freedom for the abducted children who lasted about a fortnight in the kidnappers’ den. This fact was rechoed by the Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, the GOC 1 Div. Kaduna and the federal government, through the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris.
Governor Sani was emphatic. While stating that no ransom was paid to the kidnappers, he argued that it was preposterous to waste precious time on how the victims gained their freedom. He said the joy occasioned by their freedom should overshadowed the question of whether ransom was paid or not. Idris took the explanation further. He said the rescue of the children without ransom payment underscored the directive to the security agencies at the wake of the Kuriga abduction by President Bola Tinubu to up their game and ensure that the victims regained their freedom unconditionally; what he called Mr President’s zero- tolerable for paying of ransom to criminals.
This is, however, contrary to strong inferences in some quarters that ransom was paid for the rescue of the abducted schoolchildren.
The dust over the exact number of children kidnapped occasioned by speculations has also settled with the wholesale rescue of the victims. Media reports had put the figure at 287, but the military authorities said only 137 children were abducted, and they had all been rescued.
The General Commanding Officer (GOC), 1 Division Nigerian Army, Major General Mayirenso Saraso who handed over the children to Governor Uba Sani on Wednesday said no ransom was paid. He however pointed out that, both kinetic and non-kinetic approaches were applied in the rescue of the schoolchildren. He did not give details of the non-kinetic approach, which has triggered questions on whether any of the abductors were arrested or killed in the process.
Presenting the rescued children to Governor Uba Sani, the GOC said, the security forces successfully rescued 137, but 131 were brought to the Government House, as six were still receiving treatment at the 1 Division medical facility.
According to the GOC, “We successfully freed 137, but you will discover that 6 of them are not presently with us here, they are being attended to medically in our facility at Dalet Barracks, one male with five female students who have been hospitalized.
“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 that are here physically present to complete the figure of 137.”
Speaking further on the rescue mission, the GOC said, “Through the sustained and coordinated application of both kinetic and non-kinetic efforts by the security agencies under the strategic guidance of the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, through the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), the abducted Kuriga school children have in the early hours of Sunday 24th March 2024, been safely rescued after spending about 16 days in captivity.
Recall that on Thursday, 7th March 2024, some Violent Extremists and Insurgents (VE/I) infamously called armed bandits invaded the LEA Primary School and the Government Secondary School both co-located at Kuriga, in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, where they criminally abducted several pupils and students, including a staff member of one of the two schools.
“The students were initially received and administered first aid at the Nigerian Army Troops Forward Operating Base Dansadau, in Zamfara State before being served refreshment and subsequently conveyed from there under escort to Kaduna on 25th March 2024 morning and arrived in the afternoon of the same day.
“In all, there were 137 children and one staff member making 138 persons altogether that were abducted from the co-located schools on the ill-fated day. But unfortunately, the staff member, Mr Abubakar is not here with us today because he died while in captivity.
“Consequently, there are here at present, a total of 137 students of the Govt Secondary and LEA Primary Schools Kuriga in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State who were successfully rescued from captivity around Dansadau Forest in Zamfara State and safely brought back to Kaduna.
“The breakdown of the figure of the rescued children shows that there are 76 Females and 61 Males making the total of 137 together (less the teacher that died while in captivity).
“Finally, on behalf of the entire rescue team, I wish to sincerely thank and acknowledge the support and strategic guidance of Mr President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR through the Honourable Ministers of Defence, NSA, the CDS and the Service Chiefs/Heads of other Security and Law Enforcement Agencies, and of course, not forgetting the Government and good people of Kaduna State as well as the General Officer Commanding 8 Division of the Nigerian Army who jointly and severally contributed in one way or the other towards the successful rescue efforts and safe return of the Kuriga School Children (without payment of ransom),” the GOC said.
The 131 pupils and students who arrived at Sir Kashim Ibrahim (Government) House at about 2:07pm on Monday in three Coaster and two 14-seater Hiace buses appeared medically stable, except for a few of them who were seen limping, with apparent leg injuries.
They were clad in new dresses and styrofoam Crocs shoes provided by the authorities and presented to Gov. Sani by the GOC.
The elated Governor Sani while receiving the children frowned at what he called propaganda trailing the freedom of the school children over payment or non-payment of ransom in the rescue efforts.
The Governor said, what was more important was that the abducted school children had regained their freedom, which is the joy of the Kaduna State Government.
According to the Governor, “I want to make one clarification here; when this incident happened, some of us have been very encouraging with the efforts of the security agencies because we areworking with them closely, sharing a lot of intelligence reports and we have been giving information and that is why we are here today.
“I also want to caution insecurity merchants and conflict merchants in Nigeria to be cautious with their utterances because, before the release of our children, a lot of people have been coming with a lot of permutations about how these children were released, what happened.
“The important thing for us in Kaduna is that the children are here with us. This is more important. As a Government, it is to protect the life and property of our citizens. And under my government, Kaduna State will continue to prioritise our security because security is the number one agenda of our government.
“We should not prioritise the issue of insecurity in Nigeria. It is not good to undermine the efforts of security agencies in Nigeria. I want to caution the media and some elements in society about the permutation of the school children, in my own opinion it is just to celebrate their release. And the families of these children are already happy and they are celebrating.
“We are all happy because we had 16 days of sleepless nights, but today we are happy the children are back and I want to emphasise that we will continue to make security efforts so that all our local government areas and communities are safe,” the Governor said.
Meanwhile, the school children who were scheduled to be reunited with their parents during a dinner on Monday night were taken to Kaduna State Women and Children Centre for Psycho-social therapy before they were taken back to Kuriga.
Governor Sani who could not hide his excitement on Sunday night visited the children at the Military Hospital, where one of the rescued secondary school students, Aisha confirmed to the Governor that, all of them who were kidnapped were rescued. This has further authenticated the claim by the authorities that none of the kidnapped children was missing.
She also said that none of them were molested by their abductors, as the bandits had zero tolerance for molestation.
According to her, “We have returned completely, nobody is missing. We were 138, but, 137 of us came back. The one that didn’t come back was our teacher who died in captivity.
“We were not molested, they (bandits) don’t touch women. They even warned themselves not to molest any female; they said whoever molests any female is not forgiven and God will judge the person,” she said.
Asked about her future ambition, Aisha said, “I want to study medicine and become a Medical Doctor.”
Another female student, (name unknown) told Governor Sani that, she wanted to become a soldier, so that, she could help rid Nigeria of insecurity.
However, it is a huge relief for the parents of the kidnapped children as they were released after an agonizing 16 days in the kidnappers’s den
one of the community leaders and a parent who holds the traditional title of Tafida Kuriga, Jubril Gwadabe Kuriga, said the parents were traumatized, while some died while their children were in bandits’ captivity.
Kuriga whose nine-year-old daughter was among the kidnapped children, recalled how he used to wake up in the middle of the night and cry because of the uncertain condition of his daughter.
His words: “My name is Jubril Gwadabe Kuriga. Tafida Kuriga. I have a child by the name Aisha, she is 9 years old and she was among those kidnapped too.
“We were traumatized throughout the period of the absence of our children. Our children were away in the bush, with no food, and no good water.
“Let me tell you, sometimes 12 o’clock, 1 o’clock in the night, I would wake up, I would just be crying, thinking how is she? Has she eaten? I think of all that because I know if she is at home, normally before she goes to school in the morning, she would eat then she would come back to eat breakfast and then when they close by two o’clock before she goes for Islamiyya she takes something.
“I am always playing with her at home but with her absence now I have been feeling very bad. They said all the children are back that is what they said all of them are back but seeing is believing.
“There is a woman whose four children were among the kidnapped pupils. She could not eat, she could not sleep.
“If I can even tell you, some parents died within the period the children were with Kidnappers. I cannot tell you the number of those who died. But I believe some are dead.
“The government called us and informed us that the children are with them. That is the true story, but we have not seen them yet.
“They promised us by tomorrow (Monday) they will hand over the children to us. Each student or child will be handed over to the parents.
“We are feeling happy because it is not easy missing your child for this long period, so, we need to be happy,” he narrated.
Speaking on the future of the children’s education in Kuriga, the parent said, “With the presence of security now in our area, we are going to mount the security so that our children can go back to school.
“We are happy that we now have security presence. We are going to use them to see that our children go back to school,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has called for proactive measures against future occurrence of such kidnappings, even as they celebrate the safe return if the schoolchildren.
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the Forum, Prof. Tukur Muhammad-Baba said, “It is with warm hearts full of relief and gratitude that the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) received news about the release of the students abducted from schools at Kuriga, Kaduna State, Tsangaya school children abducted in Gada Local Government Area, Sokoto State, and some of the long-held students of Federal University Gusau (FUGUS).
“Details of the process that led to the release of the students are unavailable, understandably for security reasons. Without prejudice, however, for ACF the development hopefully signals a new dawn in anti-terrorism measures being applied by the Government.
“Specific to Kuriga, the rescue of the innocent kids is highly commendable. As alluded to in the statement from His Excellency Senator Uba Sani, the operation was made possible by a needed collaboration between various stakeholders including the security forces, the Kaduna State Government (KDSG) and locals.
“This is as it should be, as many have indeed been stridently calling for such an approach to stamping out for good, the menace of terrorism and banditry that has existential threats to communities in Nigeria.
“All who contributed to seeing the feat deserve much appreciation and gratitude from all Nigerians. ACF joins all to extend kudos to the Federal Government and its security agencies, HE Senator Sani and KDSG, members of the local communities involved and indeed any and everyone that directly and indirectly contributed to this happy denouement to the horrific nightmare scenario.
“ACF also rejoices with the student, their parents and guardians. Going forward, ACF calls for strengthening this new anti-terrorism multi-stakeholder, multi-pronged strategy, involving all those with direct and indirect responsibilities for securing peoples and communities and, ultimately, Nigeria.
“Efforts should be intensified to have all remaining captives, everywhere and anywhere released. For Kuriga, this is vital, because the number of victims released is at variance with earlier figures of abductees as indeed reflected in various news reports.
“The adoption of simple but effective community-based measures, including simple or user-friendly gadgets, incorporating solid intelligence gathering and processing, for early warning, early response strategy to secure all vulnerable communities and facilities”.
Similarly, the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) has described the release of the Kuriga school children as a welcome development and appreciated the efforts of all those who worked towards their release.
The Deputy Executive Director of ANEEJ Mr. Leo Atakpu, however, opined that there is urgent need for the government to ensure that other Nigerians in the den of the kidnappers are also released.
According to him as it is in developed countries where anyone whose rights are tampered with or withdrawn by insurgents or bandits like kidnappers, the government must ensure that such rights are restored to the respective citizens.
He stressed that it is important that every Nigerian, anywhere they are and being terrorized by bandits, must be freed from such acts of terrorism.
“The government needs to do more to fight insecurity in the country because it is affecting businesses, restraining movements, and also affecting economic activities around the country.
“Local farmers are being disturbed from going into the farms. Over 60 percent of Nigerians engage in farming and they contribute most to the nation’s GDP.
“So it is important that the rights of Nigerians to freely associate and freely do their business is fully guaranteed and this time, we are referring to the government.
Mr Atakpu lauded the government’s stand on not paying ransom to the bandits, saying “If the Government continued to pay ransom to these criminal elements, they are supporting their industry to grow and that is why you find that in some states, there are over 30,000 bandits in the forest, places like Zamfara, Katsina and many other states in the North West zone.
“You have huge numbers of criminal elements that have taken their location in the forest.
“Government and security agents need to flush them out, including the southeast where the activities of some factions of IPOB have dominated and remained a nuisance to the economic activities of the State. The government needs to do more by employing technology to detect and deal with this menace in the Country.”
However, the released school Children were reunited with their family members in a grand reception at Katuru Road in the state capital on Thursday, 28th March 2024.
The rescued pupils and students and their families expressed gratitude to the governor for giving their quest for freedom of victims relentless attention and effort.
Gov. Sani who was represented at the event by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Abdulkadir Meyere said the administration will ensure the freed pupils study up to university level and urged the parents to remain steadfast in being prayerful for the safety and security of Kaduna State.
The representative of the Kuriga community, Idris Abdullahi ( Madakin Kuriga) expressed gratitude to the Governor of the State for “giving his all, to freeing our children and consistently consoling us in moments of tensions, until formal handing over of our children”.
Representative of the male students Suleman Lawal said it was with utmost joy that they recalled the efforts of the governor for their release. On her part, a representative of the female students, Aisha Muhammad, who was fondly addressed as “Barrister” expressed happiness with the fatherly role the governor played tirelessly to ensure they returned home unharmed, just before she burst into tears. A ‘lieutenant’ to “Barrister, barely said “I wish to profoundly thank the governor” before she also burst into tears, while many of the female parents sobbed, for joy.
The handing over of the 137 students to their parents by the State government came about 48 hours after the psycho-social process as directed by Governor Uba Sani, to determine the risks condition of trauma and physical health challenges, if any, amongst the freed victims ahead of the handover.
They were also hosted to a special Ramadan dinner at the Government House, Kaduna, ahead of the formal reunification with their parents.
