Sunday Aramba/AP
Parents wait for news about kidnapped LEA Primary and Secondary School Kuriga students on March 9, 2024 in Kuriga, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
CNN
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Governor Uba Sani of Nigeria's Kaduna state confirmed in a television interview aired on Sunday that at least 137 schoolchildren abducted by armed groups in Nigeria earlier this month have been released.
In an interview broadcast on Nigeria's Channels Television, Sani said he had met with the children's families.
“I'm happy, my family is happy, and we're all happy that the children were rescued,” he told the station.
However, Sani said the teacher had developed “several complications” and died while in confinement, without providing further details.
On March 7, more than 300 students were abducted by armed robbers on motorcycles who attacked LEA Primary and Secondary School in Kuriga village, Chikun district of Kaduna, state police told CNN at the time.
Abuja, Nigeria's capital, and Kaduna state, which borders the state to the southwest, have been dealing with repeated kidnappings for ransom by bandits, and several mass kidnappings have been witnessed in recent years.
In a previous post on X, Sani was seen speaking to dozens of children and wrote: “I was happy to see the released children doing well on Sunday evening.”
He wrote that they will continue to “receive psychosocial counseling” and receive “appropriate medical supervision.”
The former gunmen According to community members, the students demanded a ransom of 1 billion naira ($620,000) and threatened to kill all students if their demands were not met.
Sani said Nigeria's national security adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, “coordinated the operations of the security agencies, which ultimately led to this success.”
“The Nigerian military also deserves special praise for showing that through courage, determination and dedication, they can undermine criminal elements and restore security to communities,” Sani said.
He also thanked Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, who is “working around the clock” to ensure the children's safe return.
As previously reported by CNN's Nimi Princewill and Mariya Knight in Abuja.
