TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed “overwhelming joy” over the release of abducted schoolgirls of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Talatu-Mafara local government area of Zamfara state.

The schoolgirls were kidnapped last Friday and released on Tuesday morning.

In a statement by Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, Buhari said he was excited that their ordeal ”came to a happy end without any incident”.

The president called for greater vigilance by the people so that human intelligence can be collected early enough to nip the bandits’ plans in the bud.

“I join the families and people of Zamfara State in welcoming and celebrating the release of these traumatized female students,” he said.

“Being held in captivity is an agonizing experience not only for the victims but also their families and all of us.”

He said the time has come to reverse, completely, the “grim and heartbreaking incidents of kidnapping”.

The president also warned that “ransom payments will continue to prosper kidnapping” while asking the police and the military to go after the kidnappers and bring them to justice.

The president had earlier warned that his administration would not “succumb to blackmail by bandits who target innocent school students in the expectations of huge ransom payments”.

“Let them not entertain any illusions that they are more powerful than the government. They shouldn’t mistake our restraint for the humanitarian goals of protecting innocent lives as a weakness or a sign of fear or irresolution,” the president had said.