Kidnapped Nigerian schoolboys trying to reunite with families

It was not immediately clear how those statements matched previous testimonials from some of their classmates who had managed to escape, saying that a count of the number of people carried out by their captors while marching through a dense forest, more than 500 hostages brought to light.

One of the rescued boys, Abdurauf Isa, who still wore the purple and white plaid school uniform of the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, said he was relieved that their ordeal was over. “We suffered at the hands of our kidnappers, but they fed us,” the 16-year-old said Friday. “We ate raw local potatoes and drank water from the stream.”

The jihadist group Boko Haram, which translates to “Western education is banned”, has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, saying on Tuesday that it had seized students to punish them for “un-Islamic practices.” In a grainy video released Thursday, hours before the boys were released, hostages said some of their classmates had died while in custody. Mr. Masari, the governor, said on Friday that all the boys imprisoned were alive.

Abdurauf said he was looking forward to returning to his studies. “My dream is to become a scientist in the future,” he said. “I will continue with my education.”

Nigerian officials, including President Muhammadu Buhari, were careful on Friday not to name the group behind the kidnapping of the boys or provide details of how they were released. In an interview with state broadcaster NTA, Buhari thanked the military, which he said had surrounded the boys’ kidnappers, without revealing their identities or explaining what happened next. His administration has repeatedly said that the military had technically defeated Boko Haram and its affiliates, even though the group has overrun dozens of military bases and carried out brutal attacks on civilians in the past year.

If Boko Haram were indeed responsible, analysts said, the kidnapping of the boys would mark a dangerous expansion under its leader, Abubakar Shekau, from his stronghold in northeast Nigeria to the northwestern state of Katsina, potentially forming alliances with local criminal networks. Some analysts have also questioned statements by Nigerian officials that they did not pay a ransom to free the boys from Kankara school.

The boys’ relatively quick release was a much-needed victory for the government of Buhari, whose kidnapping was an embarrassing reminder of the 2014 kidnapping of 276 school girls from Chibok city. That attack sparked the global # BringBackOurGirls campaign and drew the world’s attention to the rise of Boko Haram militants.

After three years, 103 of the girls were released for a ransom that, according to those involved, included the exchange of five imprisoned militants and € 3 million, which equates to approximately $ 3.7 million. The government has denied paying a ransom for the Chibok girls.

After medical check-ups and clean clothes, the boys waited hours in a state banquet hall on Friday afternoon before meeting Mr. Buhari and the governor of Katsina.

“Don’t let your kidnapping experience stop you from continuing your education,” the president told the boys. “Please put the experience behind you and move forward.”

Outside, dozens of parents, who had traveled 130 kilometers from Kankara to the capital, Katsina, were eager to welcome their children. “I could shake [my son’s] hand before he and other released children had to undergo medical checkups, ”said Hajia Mai Jida, whose 17-year-old son Buhari was among those released on Thursday.

But like other parents, Ms. Jida said she had no intention of sending her son back to school. “The school is not secured and it is alone in the bush,” she said. “I don’t want him kidnapped again.”

Write to Gabriele Steinhauser at [email protected]

Corrections and reinforcements
Muhammadu Buhari is president of Nigeria. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that his surname was Buhair in one reference.