One hundred and thirty-one of their mates were handed over to the state government.
General Officer Commanding (GOC) First Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Mayirenso Saraso handed the children over to Governor Uba Sani on behalf of the Defence Headquarters (DHQ).
He said the military used kinetic and not-kinetic methods in securing their release from the kidnappers in Zamfara State where they were taken.
He confirmed that six pupils, one male and five females, are on admission at the Darlet Barracks military hospital.
The children spent 16 days with their abductors. They were made to trek a long distance from Kaduna to neighbouring Zamfara.
The release of the kidnapped children was secured without ransom payment, the Federal Government said.
The children, who were reunited with their parents at a dinner, are scheduled for psycho-social therapy at Kaduna State Women and Children Centre before being taken back to Kuriga.
The 131 students, who arrived at about 2:07 pm in three coaster and two 14-seater Hiace buses, appeared medically stable, except for some of them who were limping as a result of leg injuries believed to have been sustained following the long trek in the forest.
They were clad in new dresses and shoes provided by the authorities.
Presenting them to Governor Sani, the GOC gave an account of how they were rescued.
He said: “We successfully freed 137, but you will discover that six of them are not with us here; they are being attended to medically in our facility at Darlet Barracks; one male and five females.
“When they get better, they will join their 131 colleagues to complete the figure of 137.”
Reflecting on the rescue mission, Gen. Saraso said: “It was through the sustained and coordinated application of both kinetic and non-kinetic efforts by the security agencies under the strategic guidance of the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, through the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
“The abducted Kuriga school children were safely rescued early Sunday after spending about 16 days in captivity.
“On Thursday, 7th March 2024, some violent extremists and insurgents (VE/I) infamously called armed bandits invaded the LEA Primary School and the Government Secondary School, both co-located at Kuriga, in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, where they criminally abducted several pupils and students including a staff member of one of the two schools.
“The students were initially received and administered first aid at the Nigerian Army Troops Forward Operating Base Dansadau, in Zamfara State, before being served refreshments and subsequently conveyed from there under escort to Kaduna.
“In all, there were 137 children and one staff member, making 138 persons altogether that were abducted from the co-located schools. “Unfortunately, the staff member, Mr Abubakar, is not here with us today because he died while in captivity.
“The breakdown of the figure of the rescued children shows that there are 76 females and 61 males, making the total of 137 (less the teacher that died while in captivity).”
The GOC thanked President Tinubu, Governor Sani, Ministers of Defence, NSA, the CDS and the Service Chiefs/Heads of other security agencies for their joint efforts.
Sani hails security agencies
Receiving the children, Sani frowned at the propaganda that trailed their rescue.
The governor said the most important thing was that the children had regained their freedom.
He said: “We worked with security agencies closely, sharing a lot of intelligence reports.
“I also want to caution insecurity merchants and conflict merchants to be cautious with their utterances because, before the release of our children, a lot of people came with a lot of permutations on how these children were released.
“The important thing for us in Kaduna is that the children are here with us. This is more important.
“The government exists to protect the life and property of our citizens. And under my government, Kaduna State will continue to prioritise our security because security is the number one agenda of our government.
“We should not politicise the issue of insecurity. It is not good to undermine the efforts of security agencies.
“I want to caution the media and some elements in the society about permutation. The families of these children are already happy and they are celebrating.
“We are all happy because we had 16 days of sleepless nights, but today, we are happy the children are back.
“We will continue to make security efforts so that all our local government areas and communities are saved.”
Children not molested, says Aisha
On Sunday night when Governor Sani visited the children at the Military Hospital, a pupil, Aisha confirmed that all of them were rescued.
She also said none of them was molested by their abductors, as the bandits had zero tolerance against molestation.
She said: “We have returned completely; nobody is missing. We were 138, but 137 of us came back. The one that didn’t come back was our teacher, who died in the captivity.
“We were not molested. They (bandits) don’t touch women. They even warned themselves not to molest any female; they said whoever molests any female is not forgiven and God will judge the person.”
Asked about her future ambition, Aisha said: “I want to study medicine and become a medical doctor.”
Another female pupil said she hoped to become a soldier so that she could rid Nigeria of insecurity.
The figure of 287 was given by a teacher on the day of the incident while briefing Governor Sani.
ACF: guard against reoccurrence
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) called for proactive measures against future occurrence of tragedy.
Its National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Tukur Muhammad-Baba, said in a statement that the rescue was a welcome development.
He added: “Details of the process that led to the release of the students are unavailable, understandably for security reasons.
“Without prejudice, however, for ACF the development hopefully signals a new dawn in anti-terrorism measures being applied by the government.
“Specific to Kuriga, the rescue of the innocent kids is highly commendable. As alluded to in the statement from His Excellency Senator Uba Sani, the operation was made possible by a needed collaboration between various stakeholders including the security forces, the Kaduna State Government and locals.
“This is as should be, as many have indeed been stridently calling for such an approach to stamping out for good, the menace of terrorism and banditry that as existential threats to communities in Nigeria.
“Efforts should be intensified to have all remaining captives, everywhere and anywhere released.
“For Kuriga, this is vital, because the number of victims released is at variance with earlier figures of abductees as indeed reflected in various news reports.
“The adoption of simple but effective community-based measures, including simple or user-friendly gadgets, incorporating solid intelligence gathering and processing, for early warning, early response strategy to secure all vulnerable communities and facilities”.
