Zamfara police claim credit for ‘escape’ of 5 abducted students from bandits captivity

The Zamfara State Police Command, on Thursday, has taken the credit for the “escape” of five out of the 73 abducted students of the Government Day Secondary School, Kaya, in Maradun Local Government Area.

NewsWireNGR had earlier reported that a parent of one of the students told BBC Hausa that his daughter and four other students escaped the captivity of bandits.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Command, SP Muhammed Shehu, while announcing the development in a statement in Gusau on Thursday said “the ongoing search and rescue mission is yielding positive result as five abducted female students were today rescued”.

“The Police Command wishes to announce the unconditional and safe rescue of five out of the 73 abducted students of Government Day Secondary School, Kaya.

“It could be recalled that, upon the abduction of 73 male and female students, the state police command, in collaboration with other security agencies with the support of the state government, swung into action by deploying a joint search and rescue team to Kaya and its environs to effectively rescue the abducted students and reunite them with their families.

“The victims were medically checked at the hospital, debriefed by the police and reunited with their families,” Shehu said.

Shehu said that CP Ayuba Elkana has assured parents of sustained effort to rescue the remaining students hale and hearty.

Meanwhile, the parent of one of the students said; “She (his daughter) said they were divided into two groups. She told us some of the girls were around her age, while others were younger than her,” the student’s father said.

“As they were being divided into groups, she said five of them hid and the others left without them. That was how they escaped.

“They began running into the forest and arrived around 1 am. They didn’t know where they were until they sighted a mosque here.

“One of them has been hospitalised. Our daughter has been sleeping since she came home. We had to administer a drip. Overall, they are all getting better. One of them has even started walking around.”