It was an excited Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State, who in the early hours of yesterday announced that some repentant bandits in the state, help in facilitation and assisted security agencies in the operation that led to the rescue of abducted 279 girls of the Government Girls Science Secondary School, Jangebe.
Matawalle, who received the released girls in Gusau at about 5a.m, yesterday, said the 279 girls were returned safely without paying any ransom, adding that the development was as a result of the government’s peace effort thereby putting to shame those saying there is no security in the country.
He expressed happiness that all 279 returned safely, adding however that the released girls will undergo medical checks and given balanced diets by the state government to enable them recuperate before they are handed over to their families.
According to Matawalle; “We have been in discussion since Friday with the abductors and reached an agreement on Monday by 4:00 pm that the girls were released”.
Matawalle appealed to parents not to get discouraged with the incident by removing their children from school, assuring that the government will ensure additional security in all the schools.
He commended all media outlets for their support throughout the trying times and also congratulated parents of the victims and Nigerians for the safe return of the girls.
Gunmen had abducted the 279 girls of the Government Girls Secondary School from their hotels in Jangebe last week Friday.
Narrating their ordeals in captivity, one of the victims, Hafsatu Anka, who is an SS II student who was in tears while narrating their nasty experience, said they were laid in trenches littered with human excreta.
In the words of Hafsat: “We saw other people including women and children and father of one of our school mates, who had been in the den for three months.
“They walked us on foot where some of us dislocated their foot. They would pray as Muslims but never allowed us to pray and they fed us with rice in which they pour sand after cooking,” she said.
Hafsat said the captives threatened to kill, fry and eat them if they misbehaved.
Hafsat, while narrating her ordeal at the Government House, Gusau, shortly after regaining freedom, stated that they trekked over a long distance from the school, had a stopover for some hours before they reached their destination.
“There was no clean water or good food, and we felt we had already spent years even though it was our first day and the bandits kept firing into the air to scare us.
“They were very young boys with on one elder they called Kasalle or Yaya who gave them instructions, and he was the one that stopped them from touching any of us,” Hafsat stated.
According to her, the bandits wore military uniforms and claimed they defeated the security officials by invading the school and successfully whisking the girls away.
Hafsat, who said she was happy for being rescued, pointed out that she would continue her studies but as a day student.
The students were abducted last Friday around 2: 00 a.m. generating public outcry across the world, with many calling on the government and security agencies to ensure their safe return.