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279 Kidnapped Nigerian Schoolgirls Released by Their Captors

VOA News

   Officials in Nigeria's Zamfara state say 279 schoolgirls released by
   their kidnappers are being reunited with their families after
   undergoing medical checkups.
   One father, Yakubu Sani said it was like he was just born after hearing
   the voice of his just-released daughter on the telephone.
   State Police Commissioner Abutu Yaro described the girls as happy and
   healthy Tuesday as they were examined Tuesday and driven from the state
   Government House office in Gusau to see their families.
   Yaro said a government-led peace process helped to secure the girls'
   release.
   He said more details will be provided later. It is unclear if their
   release was the result of a ransom arrangement.
   Girls who were kidnapped from a school in the northwest Nigerian state
   of Zamfara are seen after their release in Zamfara, Nigeria, March 2,
   2021.

   Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Twitter he was happy their
   ordeal had come to a peaceful end. Buhari also said the military and
   the police will continue to go after kidnappers and he urged the public
   to provide any information possible that would help authorities put a
   stop to the criminal activity.
   Authorities initially said gunmen abducted 317 girls in the raid on the
   Government Girls Secondary School in remote Jangebe village on Friday.
   But Zamfara state Governor Bello Matawalle said the total number of
   female students abducted was 279. No reason has been given for the
   error.
   Nigeria has seen several large-scale armed kidnappings in recent years,
   with the abductors often demanding ransom.
   The most high-profile school kidnapping in Nigeria involved more than
   250 mostly Christian girls abducted by the radical Islamic group Boko
   Haram in the northern town of Chibok in 2014.
   Dozens of the "Chibok girls" remain missing seven years later.

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