Hundreds of schoolboys abducted last Friday from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, and released on Thursday night have arrived Katsina State.
The students were escorted into the state capital by security operatives.
Some of the schoolboys, who were still clothed in their school uniforms, were led to an expansive hall in the Government House where they were received by Governor Aminu Masari.
Masari had on Thursday night confirmed the release of 344 abducted schoolboys, adding that the boys were at Tsafe, Zamfara State, and would be transported to Kankara today.
Masari also said no ransom was paid before the boys were released.
The Katsina governor also said the schoolboys would receive proper medical attention before they are reunited with their families.
Gunmen on motorcycles had invaded the school premises last Friday and abducted over 300 students after a gun duel with the police.
The abduction took place some hours after the President, Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), arrived in Daura, Katsina for a week-long private visit.
The Kankara students’ abduction is not the first in the history of the nation. Non-state actors had in the past abducted hundreds of secondary school girls from Chibok, in Borno State; and Dapchi in Yobe State. Some of them eventually regained freedom while a number of them were detained in the enclaves of their abductors and sexual abusers.
Details later…
