One of the rescued pupils from St. Mary’s Primary and Secondary School, Papiri, Niger State, Florence Michael, has described their ordeal in captivity, saying the abductors forced the children to lie on a trampoline in a bush near a river and threatened them into silence. “They told us if we make noise, they would beat us and we would not go back home,” she said on Monday after the formal handover of the children to the state government.
The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, said the rescue was coordinated by the ONSA, DSS, Armed Forces and other agencies, and that immediate protective measures for schools had been activated.
Governor Umaru Bago, who received the pupils in Minna, described the development as a relief, as security operatives recovered the children after they were dropped between Lumma and Wawa towns in Borgu LGA on Sunday evening.