The GOC 1 Division Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Mayirenso Saraso, has handed over the 131 Kuriga school children to Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna state for onward transfer to their parents following their rescue by joint operation of all security agencies.
Though 138 students including a teacher, Malam Abubakar, were kidnapped by the terrorists on March 7th, 2024, 137 students were rescued alive by the military, as Malam Abubakar, was said to have died of complications in the hands of his captors. General Saraso said only 131 students were brought to the government house, as six of the students, comprising five females and one male were in the military hospital receiving treatment.
The 131 school children arrived the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House gate at exactly 2:07pm in two Coasters and three 18-seater buses, they were looking stable, but some of them appeared to have leg injury as they were seen limping, while one was seen with a bandaged ankle.
They were then ushered into the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House courtyard where they were received by government officials and heads of security agencies in the state.
After being handed over by the military to Governor Uba Sani, the students are expected to be taken to the Women and Children Shelter, Kaduna where they will be taken through psychosocial therapy to ease their reintegration back to the society and be provided with treatment for any ailment or injury they may have suffered by the Kaduna state government before being handed over to their parents.
Speaking while receiving the Kuriga school children, Governor Uba Sani said, “I want to appreciate our children who are here with us and are in high spirit. These children here are exactly 131, there are six of them that I saw at the hospital yesterday night, they are there receiving treatment; five girls and one boy, they are at the hospital. The children confirmed to me that 137 of them were abducted and the 137 students were returned back safely.
“From the very day that our children were unfortunately abducted from their school in Kuriga community, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been with us from day one. He ensured that the security should return our children home safely. I want to thank the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu for his able leadership, all the service chiefs and all security agencies for their respective contributions and organised efforts, and that is why we are here today and happy to celebrate the release of our children.
“I want to appreciate many Nigerians who prayed day and night for the release of the children, and today God has answered our prayers. I want to make one clarification here; when this incident happened, some of us have been very encouraging with the efforts of the security agencies because we are working with them closely, sharing a lot of intelligence report and we have been giving information and that is why we are here today.
“I also want to caution insecurity and conflict merchants in Nigeria to be cautious with their utterances because before the release of our children a lot of people have been coming with a lot of permutation on how these children were released, what happened. The important thing for us in Kaduna is that the children are here with us. This is more important. As government, it is our duty to protect life and property of our citizens. Under my government, Kaduna state will continue to prioritise security because security is number one agenda of our government.
“We should not prioritise issues of insecurity in Nigeria. It is not good to undermine the efforts of security agencies in Nigeria. I want to caution the media and some elements in the society about permutation of the school children, in my own opinion, it is just to celebrate their release. And the families of these children are already happy and they are celebrating. We are all happy because we had 16 days of sleepless nights, but today we are happy the children are back and I want to emphasize that we will continue to make security efforts so that all our local government areas and communities are safe.
“Insecurity merchants said there are 287 children abducted most of their statements are senseless and irresponsible. Conflict and insecurity merchants should be careful with the way they peddle their trade because here in Kaduna there is no place for them,” the governor said.
Speaking on the rescue of the school children, the GOC 1 Division, Maj. Gen. Saraso said the students were rescued through both kinetic and non kinetic efforts of all security agencies in the country under the supervision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu: “On Thursday, 7th March 2024, some violent extremists and insurgents invaded the LEA Primary School and the Government Secondary School both co-located at Kuriga, in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna state, where they criminally abducted several pupils and students including a staff member of one of the two schools.
“Through, the sustained and coordinated application of both kinetic and non-kinetic efforts by the security agencies under the strategic guidance of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu through the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), the abducted Kuriga school children have in the early hours of Sunday 24th March 2024, been safely rescued after spending about 16 days in captivity.
“The students were initially received and administered first aid at the Nigerian Army Troops Forward Operating Base, Dansadau, in Zamfara state before being served refreshment and subsequently conveyed from there under escort to Kaduna this morning/afternoon. There were 137 children and one staff member making 138 persons altogether that were abducted from the co-located schools on the ill-fated day. But unfortunately the staff member, Mr Abubakar is not here with us today because he died while in captivity.
“Consequently, there are here at present, a total of 137 students of the Govt Secondary School and LEA Primary School Kuriga in Chikun LGA of Kaduna state who were successfully rescued from captivity around Dansadau Forest in Zamfara state and safely brought back to Kaduna. The breakdown of the figure of the rescued children shows that there are 76 females and 61 males making the total of 137 alltogether (less the teacher that died while in captivity),” Gen. Saraso said.