Nigerian gunmen released the remaining students of more than 100 students kidnapped from an Islamic seminary in northwest Niger state nearly three months ago, the school principal said on Thursday.
Heavily armed criminals kidnapped 136 students from Tegina Seminary on May 30 in a series of mass kidnappings targeting schools and colleges in Nigeria since December.
Six of the students died in captivity and 15 more escaped in June, school officials said.
“The students have all been released. We are now bringing them home, ”seminar director Abubakar Alhassan told AFP by telephone.
“I can’t give you an exact number now. We will have to track them down when we get home. But none of the students are in captivity.
He gave no details of how the students were released or whether a ransom was paid.
One of the parents, Fati Abdullahi, whose 18-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son were among the captives, confirmed that the students were free.
“We have been in contact with those who bring them home on the phone. We have followed their journey home, ”Abdullahi said. “We can’t wait to see them.
Growing violence
Northwest and central Nigeria has seen an upsurge in attacks, looting and mass kidnappings by criminal gangs known locally as bandits. But this year, gangs started targeting schoolchildren and college students as a way to get more ransoms.
About 1,000 students have been kidnapped since December after gangs started hitting schools. Most were released after negotiations, but dozens are still being held in logging camps.
Gunmen who kidnapped more than 100 students from a Baptist high school in northwest Kaduna state freed 15 more of the hostages after collecting a ransom, a family representative said on Sunday.
During the kidnapping of the Tegina seminary in May, around 200 armed men on motorcycles stormed the district town of Rafi, Niger state, transporting the students to their rural hiding place.
In August, an emissary sent to hand over a ransom was himself held captive for a week by the bandits before being released with a demand for more money.
As late as last week, kidnappers called the school to send more clothes for children who had been wearing the same ragged clothes for months.
The violence in northwest and central Nigeria has its roots in long-standing tensions and armed raids between nomadic farmers and herders over pastures and water resources.
But insecurity has worsened with the emergence of criminal gangs involved in cattle rustling, village looting and mass kidnappings. Most of them are based in vast forests in the states of Kaduna, Katsina, Niger and Zamfara.
President Muhammadu Buhari ordered military operations and airstrikes against bandit camps, but the attacks have not stopped. Some local governors attempted amnesty deals with the bandits, but most failed.
(AFP)
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