Zamfara Abduction: 310 Girls Still In Captivity As 7 Escape

Seven kidnapped students of the Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS) Jangebe, Zamfara State, have reportedly escaped from their abductors on Friday.

Their escape comes less than 24 hours after 317 of them were abducted in the early hours of Friday and taken to an unknown destination.

The girls were said to have returned home on their own, claiming they escaped the bandits by manoeuvring their way while trekking along the forest, Channels Television report.

The medium quoted a source as saying that more schoolgirls had also escaped and should return soon.

Their reported escape leaves the number of abducted and missing students at 310 despite conflicting details that the total number of the abductees may have exceeded 500.

The Zamfara State government has, however, directed the immediate closure of boarding schools in the state, following the schoolgirls’ abduction — Kano State has also issued similar instruction.

Kano government believed that it was imperative to close 12 boarding schools in the state given the spate of the abduction of schoolchildren in neighbouring states.

Recall that 42 abducted students and staff of Kagara Government Science College, Niger State, are yet to be released by their abductors over alleged non-payment of ransom.

The Federal Government had said the ‘business’ of kidnapping for ransom was becoming a norm and warned that under no circumstance should any ransom be paid to bandits going forward.

Reacting on Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari said that “this administration will not succumb to blackmail by bandits who target innocent school students in the expectations of huge ransom payments.”

The President stressed that, “no criminal group can be too strong to be defeated by the government,” adding that, “the only thing standing between our security forces and the bandits are the rules of engagement.”

“We have the capacity to deploy massive force against the bandits in the villages where they operate, but our limitation is the fear of heavy casualties of innocent villagers and hostages who might be used as human shields by the bandits,” he said, stressing that “our primary objective is to get the hostages safe, alive and unharmed.”