Mastermind of Katsina schoolboys abduction has “repented” – surrendered weapons with “remorse”

A well-known gunman in Zamfara, Awwalun Daudawa has surrendered to the authorities with remorse for her actions.

The state commissioner for security and internal affairs, Abubakar Muhammad Dauran, told the BBC Hausa Service.

He said Awwalun Daudawa was among the gunmen who abducted more than 300 students from Dankara School in Katsina State in December 2020.

In December 2020, gunmen stormed a boys’ boarding school and abducted more than 300 students.

The students were released a few days later, where a compromise was reached between the militants and the government.

Nigeria-based Islamist militant group Boko Haram had initially said it was behind the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolboys in President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state of Katsina.

The Government authorities had previously blamed “bandits” for the attack, it is also still not clear the actual group that abducted the now rescued school boys but multiple sources say government paid the groups ransom.

Boko Haram has been notorious over the last decade for school kidnappings, including in Chibok in 2014, but these have taken place in the north-east.

In an audio message about the abductions, its leader Abubakar Shekau said “what happened in Katsina was our responsibility” and that his group opposed Western education.

The militant group has waged a brutal insurgency since 2009, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria. Tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been forced from their homes.