Bandits released 90 female students and faculty members at a federal government school in the western Nigerian state of Kebbi, 118 days after they were kidnapped, without knowing whether a ransom was paid or not.
The Nigerian newspaper, The Independent, reported that the Kebbi State Public Relations Officer had confirmed the release, noting that the students and faculty members of the school had been kidnapped 118 days ago.
The father of one of the kidnapped students confirmed to the newspaper that his daughter was released along with the other students.
The father, who preferred not to be named, explained, “Yes, they released my daughter yesterday, but they (the students) are still with the authorities. They are expected to undergo a medical examination, before they go to their families.”
In response to a question about the value of the ransom paid to the bandits who kidnapped female students and faculty, the father said, “I will not talk about it, I hope the authorities will be in a position to provide a better explanation.”
Northwest Nigeria has been in crisis since late 2020, when groups of armed men began a series of kidnappings of schoolchildren and other attacks on villages and on residents traveling on the roads, with the aim of extracting ransom from their families or the authorities.
