SaharaReporters reported on March 7, 2024, that some terrorists stormed LGEA Primary School, Kuriga (1) on Thursday morning and kidnapped scores of pupils and teachers.
Master Mustapha Abubakar, one of the students who were abducted by bandits in Kuriga town of Kaduna State has revealed how he escaped from the kidnappers.
SaharaReporters reported on March 7, 2024, that some terrorists stormed LGEA Primary School, Kuriga (1) on Thursday morning and kidnapped scores of pupils and teachers.
The incident which reportedly happened at about 8:20 am immediately after the morning assembly, forced residents to scamper to safety as the hoodlums shot indiscriminately.
Abubakar, who was among 27 children out of over 200 schoolchildren who escaped during the kidnap attempt, narrated his ordeal to BBC Hausa.
Most of the pupils are between the ages of 5 and 18. However, there are some of the students who managed to escape.
Mustapha Abubakar told the BBC that the gunmen led them like cattle while they were walking in the forest and sometimes in the desert.
Narrating how they were moved by the terrorists like a herd of cattle, Abubakar said they trekked and crawled in the bush when a plane was hovering over the area.
He said, “We trekked in the bush; sometimes we crawled. We were so thirsty that some of the girls were becoming weak and falling due to tiredness. The bandits were lifting them and putting some of them on motorcycles.
“Afterwards, we reached a big river, where we drank water and continued trekking. There was a plane that hovered above us. That was when the bandits ordered us to remove one of our clothes and lie down."
He said that though many of them were hungry and thirsty, the bandits didn't give them anything to eat or drink.
He said, “Even the bandits were exhausted. They had no food and were eating leaves and wild fruits. They gave us nothing to eat.
“While we were moving, I noticed a shrub that was brown in colour, like my trousers. I hid inside and crawled like a snake. I was there until it was completely silent before I came out and headed to the bush.
“I later met an old man who had difficulty walking. I asked him to show me the pathway to the main road or any place nearby so that I could get water to drink.”
“I had a marathon race. I was exhausted, but I pushed on, as evening time was approaching. I later arrived at Gayan, a community near us, and that was how I eventually escaped,” he added.
The other parents and relatives of the abducted are in turmoil.
They called on the Kaduna state government and the federal government to help them free the other students still being held by the bandits.
On the morning of Thursday last week, gunmen attacked Kuriga village, in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, and abducted about 287 primary and secondary school students.
A school teacher named Sani Abdullahi who escaped said that 187 high school students were abducted, followed by 125 primary school students, but 25 later returned.
The Kaduna state government has vowed to rescue the students and has promised to rebuild a police station in the town which reports say is non-existent in the village.
Kidnapping people for ransom has exacerbated the security problem in parts of Nigeria, especially in the northern part of the country, where schools have become targets for gunmen to attack and abduct pupils.