Hundreds of Nigerian schoolboys kidnapped by Boko Haram last week were released to the government on Thursday, the local governor announced.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Katsina State Gov. Aminu Bello Masari said in a televised interview Thursday that 344 boys had been handed over to state authorities in a forest more than a hundred kilometers from the school where they were kidnapped last Friday.
Masari added that the boys would receive immediate medical attention and will meet Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday.
This comes two days after Boko Haram, a US-designated terrorist organization, officially claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. The students were kidnapped at gunpoint from the Government Science Secondary School in Katsina.
The Daily Nigerian reported that it received an audio message from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau saying his group had kidnapped the schoolboys because Western education violates the teachings of Islam, said The Associated Press.
At least 600 boys managed to escape the attack on the school, AP reported, while attackers engaged in a shootout with local police.
Earlier Thursday, Boko Haram released a video allegedly showing one of the schoolboys begging the Nigerian government to disband the military and vigilante groups, as well as schools. The New York Times.
“We have been caught by a gang from Abu Shekau,” he reportedly said. “Some of us have been murdered.”
“You have to send them the money,” he added.
A dozen smaller boys crowded around him in the video saying, “Help us,” reported the Times.
In a BBC interview Recorded before news of the release got out, Masari said the kidnappers had contacted the father of one of the kidnapped boys and demanded that the government pay a ransom.
“We have an idea where they are, but we try to make sure there is no collateral damage, that the children are returned safely,” he said during the interview. “So that’s why we tread gently and gently.”
The Times reported that after the release, Masari told a Deutsche Welle television reporter that the Boko Haram government had not paid any money.
Nigeria is under increased international scrutiny because of its approach to terrorist groups and alleged abuse by Nigerian forces.
The US first designated Nigeria last week as a country of particular concern over violations of religious freedom, one of the most serious State Department designations opening the country to sanctions.