- Details of the negotiation, negotiators and the three factions that planned, executed the abduction
Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State said Thursday night that no ransom was paid in the release of 344 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State who were abducted from their hostels on the night of December 11.
Governor Masari, in announcing their release at the Government House, Katsina, also “all the students are in good condition of health.”
However, he said they were fatigued from trekking and days spent in captivity on their arrival in Katsina, they undergo medical check-up and data capturing.
However, it is not clear if all the students have been released because Masari had earlier said only 333 students were abducted from the school on Friday, December 11.
Also, the school register sighted indicated that 668 students were missing after the attack while one of the students who escaped said 520 of them were counted in the bush.
Sources said that while in the bush, the students were kept in clusters in three different locations by three different groups with different motives in Zamfara State.
The source noted that freedom for the 344 students came after series of negotiations at different levels between governments at the national and state levels on one hand, and the abductors on the other.
It was leant that bowing to the demands of the abduction, security operatives were not involved in the negotiations but they were led by officials of the Katsina State government and traditional rulers (village and district heads). The federal government was largely involved in monitoring the progress and offering advice to the negotiators.
Another source said after the negotiation was successfully sealed, the abductors handed over the captives to some village heads in batches, noting that released abductees were first taken to a village called Hayin Alhaji by the negotiators who are mostly Ardo’s using Hilux vans.
“From Hayin Alhaji, the students were moved to another village called ‘Yan Warin Daji where they were handed over to security personnel,” the source said.
During the evacuation, locals in villages around Zamfara and Katsina said hundreds of security operatives, some in uniform and others in plainclothes were seen patrolling the area.
During the day, helicopters and fighter jets were also seen hovering around the Rugu Forest, which traversed many local government areas in Zamfara, Katsina and part of Kaduna State.
Principal of the school, Malam Usman Abubakar, had earlier said that his team arrived Katsina to meet with the Executive Secretary and other principal officers of the Katsina Science and Technical Schools Board to receive the students.
“We will receive them and proceed to the Government Gouse to meet the governor,” he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday night expressed joy at the return of the Kankara schoolboys, saying ina statement by Presidential Spokesperson, Garba Shehu, that their safe return is a big relief to their families, the entire country and the international community.
The President said it was unfortunate that the bandits and terrorists continued to get weapons under the circumstances of the border closure, promising that “we are going to dare them. We will deal with all that.”
Buhari urged the citizens to be patient and fair to the administration as it deals with the problems of security, economy and corruption, saying he was fully aware that he was elected to resolve challenges.
“When we came, we made efforts that yielded the return of the Chibok Girls. When a similar incident of school abduction happened at Dapchi, we successfully returned all but one of the more than one hundred abductees. When this latest incident happened, we put in our efforts and today we have this result to show,” he added.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar expressed happiness over the release of kidnapped students, saying in series of tweets on his Twitter handle @Atiku: “I am happy about reports that abducted schoolboys of GSSS Kankara, Katsina State have been rescued. As a father, I know how much joy it will bring to the traumatised parents who have practically kept vigil in the school premises.”
A father, Aminu Dayyabu, said; “I will start by thanking Allah for this joyful news of the rescue of our children. I will today sleep with all my eyes closed unlike in the past six days when it was nothing but nightmares.
Abubakar Lawal, who relocated to Kankara from Zaria over his missing two children said: “I will wait to take them back home. I will think before deciding in respect of them continuing with their education in that particular school.”
A source said that misunderstanding broke out among the three groups involved in the abduction, which was what delayed the exit of the schoolboys from the bush and that the earlier reports of their release which was denied was as a result of the delay in the release as earlier agreed.
According to the source, “there are three groups in the deal and these include the Boko Haram elements from Abubakar Shekau that infiltrated the Rugu forest; a group of bandits from Katsina and another group of bandits from Zamfara.
“The three groups are partners in crime. The abduction was not exclusively carried out by the Shekau’s Boko Haram faction; they connived and carried it out with the intent of gaining from it.
“Of course, the Boko Haram faction, which is deeply entrenched in the Northeast has a long-standing relationship with the bandits in terms of training, arms deals and intelligence gathering but their motives are completely different.
“In the last three years, some Boko Haram members also started living in the forests around Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara carrying out abductions for money and other criminal activities; they rarely show the other side of their religious extremism.
“This is the biggest collaboration they ever had with the bandits that led to the abduction of hundreds of schoolboys in Kankara. It was the idea of Boko Haram and they brought together some bandits from Zamfara and Katsina and carried out the mass abduction.
“However, while the Boko Haram wants to dictate the negotiation process, including asking for a huge ransom and then the release of some of their high profile members in custody of the federal government, the bandits are not comfortable holding the students for a long period.
“The students were indeed kept in clusters but the Zamfara and Katsina bandits are not used to keeping many people at the same time. They don’t have enough food and other logistics to keep the abducted students.
“That is why the bandits established contact with the government and started negotiating but the Boko Haram faction kicked,” he said.
Asked why the Boko Haram elements kicked, the source said, “If they have their way, they would move the students to Sambisa forest where they would have absolute control of the negotiation. They would ask for a huge ransom and the release of some of their members. But for the fact that they know that the North West is not their territory and that they have been surrounded and being closely monitored by security operatives, they would have no option than soft-pedalling on their demands.
“So, while we are not sure if all the students have been released, it will not take long for all to return because the location is not conducive; they can only use the students as a human shield but this cannot last,” the source said.
While the negotiations for the release of the schoolboys were going on, Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, in moves reminiscent of his antics during the Chibok Girls abduction, released a video confirming custody of the students on Thursday.
In a six-minute-and-30-second video footage with tens of young boys at the background, Shekau warned that Boko Haram would will kill any of the abducted Kankara students who refuses to accept Islam, apparently referring to Boko Haram brand of Islam.
The terrorists had invaded the school premises last Friday and abducted over 300 students after a gun duel with the police.
The abduction took place hours after President Muhammadu Buhari arrived his hometown, Daura, Katsina State for a weeklong private visit.
On Tuesday, Shekau claimed responsibility for the abduction of the students, which the Armed Forces of Nigeria dismissed as mere propaganda.
By claiming responsibility for the abduction and going ahead to prove it is holding them in the Thursday’s video, the terror organization has expanded operations to the Northwest region of the country.
The terrorist leader said in the earlier audio message that the abduction was carried out to ‘promote Islam and discourage un-Islamic practices.
Until the claim by Boko Haram terrorists, most of the killings, kidnapping and cattle rustlings in the region carried out by bandits, though many had suspected the presence of the terrorists in the zone.
What mades the Kankara abductions more disturbing was that this is not the first time Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists carried out mass-scale abductions of Secondary School students. They have repeatedly done that in the Northeast States of Yobe and Borno.
For example, in April 2014, about 276 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, who were preparing for their final exams were kidnapped by the insurgents. The attack and abduction led to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, an international campaign embraced by then U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama.
Four years after, On February 19, 2018 at 5:30 pm, 110 schoolgirls aged 11–19 years old were kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist group from the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College (GGSTC) Dapchi, located in Bulabulin, Yunusari Local Government area of Yobe State, Northeast part of the country.
Five schoolgirls reportedly died on the same day of their kidnapping while others were released in March 2018 except Leah Sharibu who was said to have been held by the abductors for refusing to renounce Christianity.
The Boko Haram sees Western educations as “haram,” the Hausa word for abomination and has been fighting against enrolling Muslims in non-Islamic schools.
On Monday, the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), led by Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, said that the only thing worse than the abduction of the students “is the fact that this is the most potent action to frustrate school enrolment in Northern Nigeria, as no parent will forthwith be comfortable to send their children or wards to boarding school despite the many enrolment campaign efforts by the Government.”
