Almost 300 schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria are free

 

Almost 300 schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria are free, says state governor. 

Government officials had been in talks with kidnappers after third school attack in less than three months

Authorities initially said 317 girls were abducted in the raid by hundreds of gunmen at the Government Girls secondary school in the remote Jangebe village on Wednesday, March 5, 2021. 

Matawelle said the total number of female students abduct was 279. "We thank Allah they are all now with us," he said on Tuesday, March 2, 2021  

Government officials had been in talks with the kidnappers, known as bandits, after Nigeria’s third school attack in less than three months.

Heavily armed criminal gangs in the north-west and central Nigeria have stepped up attacks in recent years, kidnapping for ransom, raping and pillaging, exploiting a lack of rural security.  

Last week, unidentified gunmen killed a student in an overnight attack on a boarding school in the north-central Nigerian state of Niger and kidnapped 42 people, including 27 students. The hostages are yet to be released. 

In December, more than 300 boys were kidnapped from a school in Kankara, in President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state of Katsina, while he was visiting the region.

State officials in Zamfara, like in other states besieged by bandit violence, have previously signed controversial “peace agreements”, offering money and amnesties with some of the many bandit groups that have terrorized much of north and central Nigeria in recent years.