Five months after the mass abduction at LEA Primary and Secondary Schools in Kuriga, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, the school remains closed, leaving hundreds of students without access to education in northwestern Nigeria. This situation persists due to lingering fears of another attack by the same bandits who orchestrated the kidnapping.
The school closure was highlighted in a recent documentary by ARTE.tv, which attributed the ongoing shutdown to the pervasive fear among students and staff. Maryam Illiyasu, one of the students who was kidnapped, shared her ordeal, saying, “They told us that if we ever set foot in the school again, they would come back and take us away. Since then, we’ve been too scared to return.”
Following the abduction, Governor Uba Sani visited the community, where it was reported that numerous students from both the Government Secondary School and the local primary school were missing. On March 24, 2024, Governor Sani announced that all 287 abducted students had been rescued unharmed, thanking President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Army for their support. However, the statement did not disclose the specifics of the rescue operation, leading to widespread speculation that a ransom might have been paid to secure their release.
Sani Abdullahi, a school teacher who narrowly escaped being abducted, discussed the motives behind the banditry, stating, “The motivation for these attacks is money. They know that kidnapping children will provoke a strong response from both the government and society. They do it to extort money from either the government or the parents.”
Another former captive, Sulyman Lawal, recounted the harrowing experience, “We suffered greatly; they showed us no mercy. We spent 16 days in captivity. It was only by God’s grace that we were rescued when the soldiers arrived and brought us home.”
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