24 abducted Kebbi schoolgirls regain freedom

The 24 schoolgirls abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, Kebbi state, have been rescued.

Security sources confirmed the rescue of the girls to TheCable on Tuesday.

Details of the efforts that led to the rescue of the students are still sketchy at the time of this report, but an official announcement is expected tonight.

On November 17, bandits attacked the school and abducted 25 female students after killing an official and injuring a security guard.

According to a BBC report, two of the girls escaped from their captors. Quoting Hussaini Aliyu, an official from Danko Wasagu LGA, the BBC reported that the two students ran away as they were being led into the bushes by the bandits and escaped across farmland.

On November 19, Hussaini Aliyu, chairman of Danko/Wasagu LGA in Kebbi, released names of the 25 abducted schoolgirls.

The list of the kidnapped students, seen by TheCable, is organised according to their class categories.

After the incident, Bello Sani, commissioner of police in Kebbi, said additional police tactical units, alongside military personnel and vigilante groups, have been deployed in the area.

Sani said the combined team was combing suspected escape routes and surrounding forests in a coordinated search-and-rescue operation aimed at recovering the abducted students and apprehending the perpetrators.

Waidi Shaibu, chief of army staff (COAS), also directed troops of Operation FANSAN YANMA to leave no stone unturned in the ongoing search-and-rescue operation for the abducted students.

President Bola Tinubu also directed Bello Matawalle, minister of state for defence, to relocate to Kebbi over the abduction of schoolgirls.

Tinubu ordered Matawalle to move to the state “to monitor security efforts to secure the release of the abducted students”.