The Defence Headquarters announced the recovery of 137 kidnapped schoolchildren and not 287, bringing up questions regarding the number of schoolchildren that were taken by terrorists.
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has said that 137 schoolchildren were kidnapped from the Government Secondary and Primary Schools, Kuriga 1, Chikun LGA of the state, and not 287 as widely reported.
The Nigerian Defence Headquarters earlier today said that the schoolchildren abducted in Kaduna on March 7, 2024, were rescued in Zamfara State.
The Defence Headquarters announced the recovery of 137 kidnapped schoolchildren and not 287, bringing up questions regarding the number of schoolchildren that were taken by terrorists.
In an interview with Channels Television’s Sunday’s Politics programme on Sunday night, Governor Sani said the schoolchildren were already in Kaduna and “in high spirits”.
He said the “military will hand them over to me officially by tomorrow”.
When asked for clarification regarding the figure, the governor said, “There was nobody that ever confirmed tha the children were 287. You know I visited the community and nobody came with any specific figure and as a governor I listened to most of the media coming up with figures and I knew even at that time that the figures were not correct because I have been interfacing with the school authority, we have the register, we have everything, we have their records in Kaduna,
“But you see at that critical time, I didn’t want to join issues with anyone in terms of numbers, what is more important to me as a governor is the safe return of the children. Today I am happy they are back, they are in high spirits.
“Those numbers were just a figment of some people’s imagination. Today I met the families of the children and they confirmed to me that the numbers given by the military are the correct numbers, so for me, it is more important.”
Governor Sani confirmed that “137 children were released”.
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