President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed grief that his administration could not secure freedom for Nigerians kidnapped by armed groups.“Up-till now, I still grieve for our children still in captivity, mourn with parents, friends and relatives of all those that lost loved ones in the days of the senseless brigandage and carnage,” the Nigerian leader said.
The girls –nearly 300 – were abducted by the extremist sect Boko Haram on 14 April 2014, from a government girls’ secondary school in Chibok. Since the Chibok abduction happened in the North-east Borno State, terrorist groups across Northern Nigeria have continued targeting public schools and abducting school children for ransom.Yobe State
The pupils were later released. Three months after the Kagara attack, which is the council headquarters of Rafi Local Government, the terrorists also launched an attack on the second most populous community in the council area, Tegina, and abducted 136 pupils from the Salihu Tanko Islamiyya School on 30 May.
By then, attacks by terrorists kidnapping schoolchildren were fast becoming a norm in Northern Nigeria, raising fears among Nigerians in rural communities while the government was left with no option but to shut down schools in vulnerable areas.On 12 March 2021, 27 students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna State, were kidnapped by terrorists. Seven weeks after their abduction, their parents reportedly paid an undisclosed ransom before they were released.