Following the release of some 279 students of Government Girls Junior Secondary School Jangebe in Talata Mafara local government area of Zamfara state, parents may be forced to stop education of their wards for ‘fear of the unknown.’
This is just as some of the released students relived their trauma while in the hands of their captors.
The students, who were kidnapped Friday, regained their freedom in the early hours of Monday at the instance of the Zamfara state government.
It was gathered that the abducted schoolgirls arrived Gusau, the state capital, amidst heavy security led by the state Commissioner of Police, Abutu Yaro.
Although details of what really went into and led to the eventual release was not made known, the state government however accused some unnamed politicians as being the masterminds of the girls’ abduction.
And giving the seeming incessant insecurity within the state, there are fears that parents might decide to pull out their daughters from schools.
This indication was given by one of the parents, Malam Akilu Abubakar Mayanchi, who threatened to withdraw his wards from school.
Mayanchi, who consistently trusted that the abductees would be rescued by the state government while the ordeal lasted, however said it was time for him to withdraw his two daughters.
He said: “From now on, my daughters will be withdrawn from western education system, considering the fact that we are not security conscious not only in Zamfara, but the entire northern part of the country and some parts of the South.”
He spoke to Blueprint shortly after Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle, in company of his wife, Aisha and some top government officials received the abductees at Government House Gusau Tuesday.
Mayanchi said his daughters returned to the school four days before they were kidnapped.
The father said, Aisha, one of his daughters, was sick for over a week, and that after recovering partially, he directed her, alongside her sister, to return to school.
“I couldn’t sleep since the incident occurred and what kept on coming up in my mind was how I directed my daughters to go back to school, particularly Aisha who was sick. During their abduction, whenever I remembered my last discussion with them, when I gave them standing order to go back to school, I just couldn’t sleep again,” Mayanchi stated.
He appealed to the federal and state governments to intensify efforts at mitigating banditry and other criminality bedevilling the state for over a decade, as well as other states in the North-west so affected.
My ordeal – Gov
Receiving the girls, Governor Matawalle said some forces moved to foil negotiation for the release of the girls.
The governor said those behind the heinous crime offered money to the bandits to sabotage the negotiation by the state government for the release of the girls.
Matawalle said: “While the state was in negotiation with (the) abductors for the release of the schoolgirls, other persons offered money to the armed bandits to keep the girls in captivity.”
The governor however said he had passed on the information to that effect to relevant security agencies for proper investigation, adding that the abduction was mysterious and politically motivated.
On the actual number of the girls, Matawalle said: “The actual numbers of confirmed abduction from the school’s register was 279, not 317 as earlier said by the police.”
On what he passed through while the girls were in incarceration, he said: “I didn’t sleep for four days. We worked hard for days to ensure the safe return of the girls to their families.
“We are using kinetic and non-kinetic approaches, and the non-kinetic is working for us. If not, we wouldn’t have successfully negotiated the release of these girls.”
‘No ransom paid’
Speaking to journalists after the event, Governor Matawalle stated that no ransom was paid for the release of the girls.
“The girls were released unconditionally and in collaboration with our repentant bandits who intervened at the time of their rescue,” he said.
Our experience – Schoolgirls
Meanwhile, the girls have recalled their experience in separate interviews with Blueprint.
One of them, who never gave her name, said their captors ordered them to trek for many kilometers into Bindin Forest in Maru local government area of the state, and also caged them in one shallow hole during their stay.
She said the hole also served as their restroom where they eased themselves when pressed by nature during their travail.
On feeding, the girl said their tormentors fed them with rice and beans deliberately mixed with sand before they (girls) could be allowed to eat.
At intervals, she said the bandits were always threatening to kill them, as they consistently pointed guns at our heads while marching us through the forest at different times.
Also sharing her experience, another anonymous respondent who hails from Anka local government area of the state, said she sustained a dislocation on her two legs during the raid in the school.
The JSS11 student said, prior to their release, “we heard them saying, ‘we will not collect N60 million as ransom, it is too meagre, just add something,’ that is what we heard them saying whenever they received call.”
Speaking on behalf of her colleagues, Hafsatu Umar Anka, one of the abductees, described their stay in bandits’ den as horrific, saying the kidnappers were mainly Hausa speaking people.
She said they met an old man kidnapped, whose daughter was among the abducted female students, and other victims being tortured almost every day for failure to pay ransom.
“What we underwent was horrible, devastating and barbaric because these abductors don’t know what humanity is all about, and we were kept in single shallow stream in which we ate, eased ourselves and slept there. We are commending Zamfara State Government and security personnel for their tireless efforts to ensure our rescue at this critical moment,” Hafsatu said.
APC lauds release
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said it is pleased with the abducted girls’ release.
Secretary of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), John J. Akpanudoedehe, gave the commendation in a statement Tuesday in Abuja.
He said: “We rejoice with family members and loved ones over the safe return of the schoolgirls. Albeit our security challenges, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration will stop at nothing to ensure the security and well-being of the people.
“The APC restates President Buhari’s directive to sub-national entities to provide adequate security in all schools within their areas of responsibility.
“From Dapchi to Jangebe, the President Buhari government has time and again displayed its proactiveness and capacity to address the heinous abductions and ensure quick and safe release of the students. However, the real task is for our security services to unmask the criminal sponsors and enemies of Nigeria behind the wave of targeted attacks on educational institutions in the country.
“We will achieve this through our security services synergised operations and use of modern technological tools to ensure better intelligence gathering, vigilance, surveillance as well as collaboration with communities and stakeholders at different levels.”
