ABUJA, March 24, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The more than 250 school students seized by 
gunmen in a mass kidnapping in northwestern Nigeria earlier this month have 
been released, the local governor said on Sunday.
 
The kidnapping in Kuriga, Kaduna state on March 7 was one of the biggest such 
attacks in years and prompted a national outcry over insecurity.

"The abducted Kuriga school children are released unharmed," Kaduna state 
governor Uba Sani said in a statement that did not specify how they were 
freed.

"This is indeed a day of joy," he said, thanking the army, President Bola 
Ahmed Tinubu, the national security adviser, and "all Nigerians who prayed 
fervently for the safe return of the school children".

Gangs of criminals known locally as bandits have been blamed for the 
abductions. They routinely target communities, loot villages and carry out 
mass kidnappings for ransom in northwest and north-central Nigeria.

Relatives had said the kidnappers demanded a large payment for the return of 
the students, but President Tinubu said he had ordered security forces not to 
pay up.

Kidnap victims in Nigeria are often freed following negotiations with the 
authorities, though a 2022 law banned handing over money to kidnappers and 
officials deny ransom payments are made.