The military high command has narrated how its troops, in joint effort with locals securities extricated over 137 schoolchildren abducted from LEA School Kuriga in the Chikun Local Government Area in Kaduna.
Disentangle of the Kaduna pupils was carried in less than 48 hours they were abducted. The troops also rescued 16 pupils (Almajiris) with a woman taken hostage in Gada LGA of Sokoto State.
Earlier before now, information about how 287 pupils and teachers of the school were abducted by suspected terrorists who took them into the forest was widely spread – the development that had generated outrage nationwide.
Following successful abduction of aforementioned, the terrorists demanded a ransom of N1bn for their freedom, setting a deadline of 27th March, 2024, for the payment, concurrently threatening that they would start killing them one after the other if the ransom was not paid at the given time.
Updating journalist on Sunday morning, the Director, Defence Media Operations, Edward Buba, a Major-General, disclosed that the number of the rescued victims stood at 137, comprising 76 females and 61 males.
According to the senior military officer, who stage-managed information, did not disclosed whether ransom was paid. He stated that the troops teamed up with local authorities and government agencies during the operation where Zamfara forests were ransacked and they were finally rescued in the early hours on Sunday.
It was reliably gathered that 150 victims of Kuriga schoolchildren still remained in the abductors’ captive.
Thenewskingdom learned the rescued victims had been handed over to the Sokoto State Government.
Buba said other rescued schoolchildren will also be handed over to Kaduna State government respectively.
According to him, “It would be recalled that, on March 7, 2024, troops received information that terrorists had invaded LEA School Kuriga in Chikun LG of Kaduna State During the incident, unconfirmed number of pupils were abducted”.
“Following the incident, the military committed to leaving no stone unturned until all the hostages were rescued. Accordingly, in the early hours of March 24, 2024, the military, working with local authorities and government agencies across the country, in a coordinated search and rescue operation, rescued the hostages”.
“The hostages are the same persons that were abducted from the school at Kuriga in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State. The rescued hostages totalling 137 comprise of 76 females and 61 males were rescued in Zamfara State and would be conveyed and handed over to the Kaduna State Government for further action.”
“The recent success of the troops was a testament to our resolve to rescue kidnapped victims across the country. Similar efforts have been put in place to track down those behind the killing of soldiers in Delta State”.
“These efforts demonstrate the armed forces’ resolve to find other innocent hostages and track down the terrorists that perpetrated these crimes. These efforts would continue until other hostages are found and the terrorists arrested, tried, and brought to justice by Nigerian law”.
“Troops are employing similar efforts to track down the culprits responsible for the killings of 18 soldiers in Okuama Community in Delta State,” Buba said in a statement.
