After 22 months in captivity, four abducted Kebbi college students regain freedom

Four kidnapped students of the Federal Government College (FGC) Yauri, Kebbi State, have regained their freedom after about two years in captivity.

On June 17, 2021, terrorists attacked the FGC in Birnin Yauri and kidnapped about 80 students and teachers.

The four released girls – Bilhah Musa, Hasfa Murtala, Faiza Ahmed, and Rahma Abdullahi were part of the remaining 11 girls in captivity.

ValidView Network gathered that a prominent bandit commander, Dogo Gide, reportedly released the four girls on Friday night.

It was gathered that two of the released students returned with two babies delivered while in captivity.

One of the parents of the students, Salim Kaoje told newsmen on Saturday that seven more were still in captivity.

“It took six days of negations in the forest before four of the girl were released to us. We have seven more still in captivity, and two of the parents are still in the forest trying to secure their release.”

Kaoje, the chairman of the committee of parents, said after selling their properties and holding a fund-raising event where many Nigerians helped financially, they paid an undisclosed sum of money to ensure the release of the four girls.

Parents of the remaining 11 female students had earlier in January 2023 appealed for donations to raise N100 million ransom demanded by the abductors.

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The parents, under the aegis of ‘Committee of Parents of 11 Abducted Students of FGC Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State, Nigeria’, made the appeal in an open letter addressed to Nigerians.

In the letter, they said efforts at negotiating with the abductors or getting the government to intervene and secure the release of the students had not yielded results.

Kaoje noted in the letter that the abductors were demanding the sum of N100 million naira as a ransom for the release of the students.

A letter had been addressed to the school, presumably by the terrorists, warning of the attack, but the authorities dismissed it as a prank.

While some students were earlier released, 11 remained in captivity.

It was reported in February 2022 that some of the girls had been married off and impregnated by their captors.

The mass abduction of students had become more frequent since 2014, when at least 276 girls were kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State.

Between 2020 and 2021, at least 700 students were abducted in northern Nigeria, forcing many schools to shut down.

The situation has forced many parents to withdraw their children from school, worsening the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria, which is currently over 20 million, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).