The United States Government has asked President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria to ensure that those who are responsible for the abduction of over 300 schoolboys from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State are held accountable for their action.
The US Department of State in a statement released on Thursday after Nigerian authorities secured the release of the schoolboys urged the government to make sure it holds those responsible accountable “to the full extent of the law”.
“We offer our sincere sympathies to the families of the missing students and the security guard killed in the attack,” Cale Brown, Department of State spokesperson said in the statement.
He condemned the abduction of the schoolboys from their school on the night of Friday, December 11.
“School should be a safe place where children can learn and thrive,” he added.
The Abubakar Shekau-led faction of Boko Haram had claimed responsibility for the abduction of the students following which the terror group released a video as a proof of the abduction.
But news filtered in late Thursday that the government secured the release of most of the schoolboys.
Mustapha Inuwa, Secretary to the Katsina State Government, announced that about 340 of the abducted students of the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, have been released.
The Zamfara State Governor in a report by The Daily Nigerian claimed that he facilitated the negotiations without a ransom payment. “Ask anybody, we don’t pay bandits a dime. What we do is to extend olive branch to them because they also want to live in peace.
“When we established contact with them, I persuaded them to release them unharmed. And so they did tonight. This is not the first time we facilitated the release of our people without payment of ransom,” the Zamfara governor was quoted as saying.
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