unsaveSave
expand-left
full screen Worried parents wait for word about their abducted children at the school in Kuriga, Kaduna state on March 9. Photo: Sunday Alamba/AP/TT
After more than two weeks of captivity, more than 250 kidnapped children have been released in northern Nigeria, local authorities have announced.
“The abducted Kuriga school children have been released unharmed,” reads a statement from Governor Uba Sani, thanking the country’s President Bola Tinubu.
The circumstances surrounding the release are unclear. Tinubu has previously vowed to save the children “without paying a cent”.
According to family members of the abducted children, the kidnappers had demanded large sums of money to release the students.
Kidnapping of schoolchildren for ransom is a regular occurrence in northern Nigeria, where several armed criminal groups operate. Northwest Nigeria has long been plagued by the gangs, which also raid villages, steal livestock and burn down houses.
At the same time, information from the Nigerian authorities and media is difficult to verify, as it is often very uncertain and changes rapidly.