344 Nigerian Kidnapped Schoolchildren Released – NRK Urix – Foreign News & Documentaries

On Friday, the children were shown at a press conference in Kankara, northern Nigeria.

They looked exhausted and tired.

The boys arrived in several buses, escorted by soldiers from the government army.

– The first two nights we did not sleep at all. The first two days we ate leaves. After that, we got potatoes and pieces of pecan pie, says Usman Lawal, with whom Reuters has spoken.

One of the other boys tells of his stay in a forest.

– They kept us hidden in the same place all the time, says one of the boys. When they saw a fighter plane above us, they hid us in a new place.

– They gave us food, but it was very little.

After the meeting with the media, the boys will undergo a medical check-up before reuniting with their families. Some lucky ones were able to see their parents on Friday night.

For a week, mothers, fathers, and siblings have been waiting excitedly on the schoolyard. All attended a boys’ secondary school in Kankara, Katsina, in northern Nigeria.

“Today I feel that God has taken me to paradise, I am very happy,” the mother of one of the children, Hamza Kankara, told Reuters.

– I haven’t been able to eat in two days, I’m so excited, see my mother.

Government soldiers have found the kidnappers’ hideout within a forest called Zango Paula, writes the Associated Press.

He managed to escape

The news agency has spoken with 17-year-old Usama Aminu, who managed to escape the kidnappers at night.

He fled to a town. Inside a mosque, he was helped by a man who gave him new clothes and some money.

The 17-year-old says that several of the kidnappers were younger than him. They were heavily armed and in uniform when they attacked the school on Friday of last week.

The student says that several of them were beaten because they were walking very slowly. They tried to help each other along the way.

Usama Aminu said they were ordered to lie down under the trees the times they heard helicopters in the air above them.

A 15-year-old who escaped says he was terrified. Muhammed Abubakar told the Reuters news agency that he heard the kidnappers say that anyone who tried to escape would be killed.

– But I was too fast for them and went into the forest, says the 15-year-old.

Is he still missing?

“At least we have got most of the children back, if not all of them,” Governor Aminu Bello Masari told Nigerian state television.

An unidentified source tells the AFP news agency that some of the children are still held captive. The source also claims that the kidnappers managed to get their ransom paid.

The Nigerian government has stated that it has negotiated with the kidnappers.

The extremist Islamist group Boko Haram has said they were the ones behind it.

Demonstrations against the authorities

For several days, Nigerians have demonstrated against the authorities. They believe that not enough is being done to protect the inhabitants of the north of the country.

With slogans and posters such as “Take our boys home” and “Hug Boko-Haram”, thousands of Nigerians are taking part in protests in various cities.

– We are characterized by despair and sadness. We are crying. We live in a situation where we cannot move from one place to another, a protester in Kankara tells the Reuters news agency.

Schoolgirls kidnapped in 2014

Six years ago, there was an international campaign to free some 300 schoolchildren who had been kidnapped by the same terrorist group.

They were students at a girls’ school in Chibok, in northern Nigeria.

Many Hollywood actors, like Angelina Jolie, participated in the campaign called “Take our girls home.” Among the celebrities who spearheaded the campaign was former first lady Michelle Obama.

At least a hundred of these girls are still missing.