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In Nigeria, high school students who were caught last weekend at their boarding school in Kankara, northwestern Nigeria, were released on the evening of Thursday, December 17. This mass kidnapping was claimed twice by Abubakar Shekau, leader of a Boko Haram faction, first Tuesday, then Thursday, through a video showing dozens of children being shown by armed men. Some of them are now free, while the governor of the state of Katsina, where they come from, assures that no ransom has been paid, which remains to be confirmed.
as reported from Lagos, Liza Fabbian
Squeezed in the back of trucks hired by Nigerian security forces, the recently liberated children smile tiredly. According to authorities, 344 young people were released on Thursday night and will be examined by doctors before joining their relatives.
This release is “a great relief to their families,” said President Muhammadu Buhari, quoted by one of his spokesmen. The Nigerian head of state notes that “the northwestern country now represents a new challenge”, especially as the bandits and terrorists, according to him, have continued to supply weapons despite border closure“in the last few months.” We will take care of this, “Muhammadu Buhari promises in this statement.
► See also: Nigeria: Abubakar Shekau from Boko Haram claims kidnapping of high school students in Kankara
I welcome the release of the abducted students from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara. This is a huge relief for the whole country and the international community. The whole country is grateful to Governor Masari, the intelligence services, the military and the police force.
– Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) December 17, 2020 What exactly are the links between the kidnappers and Boko Haram?
After their abduction of well-established criminal groups in northwestern Nigeria, Kankara high school students were divided into several groups. In a video published on Thursday, a young man surrounded by dozens of other hostages said that 520 high school students were captured. A number of them are still believed to be in the hands of the local gang leader who carried out this mass kidnapping.
The nature of the links between these bandits specializing in kidnapping and looting, and jihadist group Boko Haram, who claimed responsibility for this operation, is still unclear. Whether these links are purely transactional or much more ideological.
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