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A group of 53 hostages, including 20 women and 9 children, who were abducted in central Nigeria, have been released, while there is still no information on 42 people who were abducted last Wednesday from a school in Kagara in the same region.
“I was pleased to receive the 53 passengers on the bus who were kidnapped by armed bandits a week ago,” Niger State Governor Abu Bakr Sani Bello said in a tweet on Twitter Sunday night.
Authorities did not provide details on the terms of these releases. The authorities have always stressed that they will not pay ransom for the release of hostages kidnapped by “bandits”.
“We spent a week of dialogue, consultation and intense work over long nights because we had to secure his release as soon as possible,” said Mary Noel-Birgi, spokeswoman for the district governor.
He added that the 53 former hostages who were kidnapped near Kundu village in a bus belonging to an official company, underwent a medical examination before being reunited with their families.
On the other hand, 42 people, including 27 students, who were abducted on Wednesday from a school in Cagara, also in Niger state, remain missing.
“The students at the Cagara State College of Sciences are still in the hands of their captors, but every effort is being made to secure their release,” the spokeswoman said.
During two attacks in the same state last week, gunmen killed 10 people and kidnapped at least 23.
A spokeswoman for the governor announced at the time: “We are witnessing attacks now almost daily and this is worrying.”
The kidnappers are generally described as “bandits”. And unlike the jihadists or separatists, they live in Rojo Forest on the borders of the states of Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger.
Northwest and central Nigeria are the areas of action for these criminal gangs, who intensify their kidnapping for ransom and theft of livestock.
These criminal gangs are driven by the desire to make money, but some have established links with jihadist groups based in northeast Nigeria.
