Twenty-four Nigerian schoolgirls get freed after Kebbi abduction

(MENAFN) Twenty-four schoolgirls abducted from a boarding school in Nigeria’s Kebbi State on November 17 have been released, President Bola Tinubu confirmed. During the attack, armed assailants killed two staff members and kidnapped 25 students; one girl managed to escape soon after.

Tinubu praised security forces for their “swift response,” though details about the circumstances of the girls’ release remain unclear. Bayo Onanuga, a presidential adviser, confirmed all the kidnapped girls had been accounted for.

The incident follows a wave of school kidnappings in Nigeria, including a mass abduction of more than 250 children from a Catholic school in Niger State last week. Friday’s kidnapping has been described as one of the country’s largest in recent history, though officials have disputed the exact number of missing children.

In response, President Tinubu said additional security personnel would be deployed to vulnerable areas to prevent further kidnappings. He also announced that the Air Force would maintain continuous surveillance over remote regions, coordinating with ground units to “identify, isolate, disrupt, and neutralize all hostile elements.”

Since 2014, more than 1,500 children have been kidnapped from schools across Nigeria, including the infamous Chibok abduction of 276 girls. Bandit groups seeking ransom and jihadist insurgents in the north-east have made school abductions a persistent security challenge.

MENAFN27112025000045017640ID1110404965