Bello Matawalle, governor of Zamfara, says the 344 schoolboys
who were abducted from Katsina and taken to a forest in the state were released
with no ransom paid to their kidnappers.
The governor told Daily Nigerian that the state was able to
secure their release through the help of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders
Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and repentant bandits.
The students were kidnapped after gunmen attacked Government
Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina state, on December 11.
Seventeen of them who escaped during the attack were found
while 344 others in captivity were released and handed over to security
agencies on Thursday.
Although the Boko Haram insurgent group claimed
responsibility for the attack, Matawalle told Daily Nigerian that “nothing like
Boko Haram in this (the abduction); the bandits did it.”
He was also quoted as saying the state government employed
the help of repentant bandits and leadership of Miyetti Allah to establish
contact with the abductors of the students before pleading for their release.
“When we established contact with them, I persuaded them to
release them unharmed. And so they did tonight,” the governor reportedly said.
“This is not the first time we facilitated the release of
our people without payment of ransom. Ask anybody, we don’t pay bandits a dime.
What we do is to extend olive branch to them because they also want to live in
peace.
“As I speak to you, they are on their way to Tsafe, from
where they will come to Gusau and sleep. They will begin their journey to
Katsina tomorrow morning.”
The boys’ release came just moments after Boko Haram –
notorious for how it has abducted hundreds of students on two occasions in the
north – released a video of young boys it claimed were the students.
The authorities, however, insisted the insurgents were not
involved in the incident and accused them of attempting to push propaganda and
instil fear among residents.
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