Finally: 279 Abducted Jangede School Girls Released By Bandits

It was an excited Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State, who in the early hours of Tuesday 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 Jangebe Government Girls Science Secondary School.Governor Matawalle, who received the released girls in Gusau at about 5a.m on Tuesday, 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”.

Governor 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.