4 kidnapped Kebbi schoolgirls regain freedom, no pansom paid — Tinubu, Idris confirm

Twenty-four schoolgirls abducted in Maga community, Kebbi State, have been released after more than a week in captivity, the Presidency and the Kebbi State Government announced on Tuesday.

President Bola Tinubu, in a statement issued through his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, Tuesday, expressed relief that the girls had been safely recovered.

He commended security operatives for what he described as a determined and coordinated rescue effort aimed at returning all the abducted children alive.

The President urged security agencies to intensify operations in remote and high-risk locations to prevent further kidnappings, saying his administration is prepared to provide whatever support is necessary to confront armed groups threatening schoolchildren.

According to the statement, Tinubu emphasised that safeguarding Nigeria’s learning environments must remain a national priority.

Kebbi State Governor Nasir Idris also confirmed the release, stressing that neither the state nor the Federal Government paid money to secure the girls’ freedom.

Governor Idris said the operation was carried out strictly through intelligence work and tactical intervention by security forces, adding that the children will be reunited with their parents on Wednesday.

He thanked the President for giving firm directives that intensified the rescue mission.

The abduction occurred on November 17 when gunmen invaded the school shortly after a military team reportedly left the area.

The attackers killed the school’s Vice Principal, Malam Hassan Makuku, before forcing dozens of students out of their dormitories and into the surrounding forest.

The incident was one of several coordinated kidnappings recorded across the North within the same week.

Following the attack in Kebbi, bandits also abducted dozens of residents in Eruku, Kwara State, and seized students from a Catholic school in Papiri, Niger State.

While all 38 victims taken in Eruku were freed earlier on Sunday, church leaders in Niger State reported that around 50 of their missing students returned home after escaping or being released by their captors.

Three days after the Maga abduction, the Chairman of Danko-Wasagu Local Government Area, Hussaini Aliyu, published the full list of the kidnapped Kebbi students, detailing names across Senior Secondary School classes 2 and 3 and Junior Secondary School classes 2 and 3.

The list underscored the scale of the assault and the number of families affected.

The resurgence of mass abductions has revived fears of a return to the darkest years of school kidnappings in northern Nigeria. Between 2014 and 2021, notorious raids in Chibok, Dapchi, Kankara, Kagara and Jangebe drew global attention to the vulnerability of Nigerian schools—particularly those in rural areas where security presence is thin and bandits operate with mobility and impunity.

Security analysts warn that the spread of attacks across multiple states signals a renewed confidence among kidnapping gangs.

They argue that unless the government deploys sustained military pressure and strengthens early-warning systems in at-risk communities, the cycle of school abductions could persist.

For now, however, relief has swept through Maga community and surrounding towns as families prepare to receive the rescued schoolgirls.

Authorities say medical teams and trauma counsellors will be on standby to provide care as the children return home.