Controversy yesterday trailed the actual number of schoolchildren abducted by bandits in Kuriga, Kaduna State on March 7, 2024.
Contrary to the 287 children widely reported by the media when the incident occurred, the state government has said only 137 were kidnapped and that all of them have been released.
Nigerians woke up yesterday morning to the cheering news that 137 of the 287 children had been rescued by troops in Zamfara State where the bandits had held them for 18 days.
The figures released by one of the teachers, who escaped the attack, showed that 187 students of the secondary school and 125 pupils of the primary school in the same area were kidnapped from the school.
The teacher said, “At GSS Kuriga, 187 students are at present missing. In the primary school, 125 pupils were initially missing, but 25 of them escaped and returned home.”
A resident, Shitu, confirmed the incident, saying most of the pupils ran out of their classes when they sighted the bandits at the school premises.
Another resident, Lawal Kuriga, also told journalists that the abducted victims were marched into the forest.
One of the teachers of Government Secondary School, Kuriga, Sani Abdullahi, narrated how bandits invaded the joint secondary and primary and whisked away about 280 pupils and teachers.
