The Nigerian presidency has announced that all 24 schoolgirls kidnapped by armed men from a school in Kebbi State last week have been released.
Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said the girls, abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in Maga on 17 November, were freed on Tuesday.
The vice-principal of the school was shot dead during the raid, which took place shortly after a military detachment reportedly left the premises.The incident triggered a wave of copycat attacks.
In Kwara State, 38 people kidnapped from the town of Eruku were freed on Sunday. In neighbouring Niger State, the local chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria said 50 students from a Catholic school in Papiri who had initially been reported missing were later found safe at their parents’ homes.
President Bola Tinubu welcomed the release of the Kebbi schoolgirls and praised the security forces for their efforts in securing freedom for all the victims.
He urged the military and police to deploy more personnel to vulnerable areas to prevent further abductions, adding that his government would provide whatever support was needed.
Kidnappings for ransom by criminal gangs remain widespread in parts of northern and central Nigeria.