Schoolboys abducted at the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State have recounted their ordeals in the hands of their kidnappers, expressing doubt about going back to the school.
About 344 students of the school were kidnapped by suspected bandits on Friday, December 11 and only set free on Thursday in Zamfara State before they were transported back to Katsina on Friday morning under heavy security.
The rescued schoolboys lamented that their abductors kept them in the cold and only gave them food once in two days.
According to one of the abducted schoolboys, Abubakar Salisu, who spoke in a video posted online, the majority of the students are not willing to return to the school where they were kidnapped.
Salisu expressed regret that the remote location of their school made rescue efforts by security operatives difficult.
He said he and the other students felt the efforts made by security operatives to rescue them from one of the locations their abductors had kept them.
He said, “I was very happy (to be rescued). At the time we were there (kidnappers’ den), we were kept in the cold. They gave us only cassava to eat.
“At night, we defecate and urinate on the same spot that we sleep. If we request to use the toilet, we are beaten.”
Salisu, however, said none of them was interested in returning to the school where they were kidnapped
He said, “None of us is willing to go back there. But some will go if the government increases the number of security operatives guarding us, without that we are not going back.
“In terms of security, the school is too far from town. When they came to kidnap us, the army and police arrived late. They already gathered us parked us inside the forest before the army and police came.”
Another schoolboy lamented his poor health, saying, “They kidnapped us from December 11 and freed us on December 17. We really suffered in the bush.
“We were hungry in the bush and we had no mattress. Sometimes, it takes two days before we eat. They give us only cassava.
“I feel hungry. I am not feeling fine. I am sick.”