LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- After 707 days in captivity, the last two school girls abducted from the Federal Government College, Birnin Yauri (FGC) by terrorists have been released.
The girls, identified as Faida Sani Kaoje and Safiya Idris, were released in the early hours of today.
According to the report, they were released following intensive negotiations by a special committee formed by their families and well-wishers, with the leadership of the bandits, to ensure their quick release from their captors.
Dogo Gide, a notorious bandit kingpin, had insisted that some conditions must be met by the Kebbi State Government before the remaining girls can regain their freedom.
Four Yauri female students with two babies had earlier been released after payments of a huge ransom to Dogo Gide were made.
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On 7 May, three other girls namely, Elizabeth Ogechi Nwafor, Esther Sunday and Aliya Abubakar, regained their freedom from their captors.
A source explained that the release of the abducted girls was effected after a huge ransom was generated by their parents and other stakeholders when the Kebbi State Government was reluctant to meet the bandits’ demands.
“The parents had to beg Nigerians to come to their aid financially in order to rescue their children from their abductors,” the source disclosed.
He added that in a letter addressed to Nigerians in January 2023, the group known as “Committee of Parents of 11 Abducted Students of FGC Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State, Nigeria,” solicited financial assistance towards raising the sum of N100 million as ransom to be paid to the terrorists, in exchange for their wards.
Salim Ka’oje and Mr. Daniel Alkali, the chairman and Secretary of the committee, explained that their female children had been in the custody of their abductors since June 2021.