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Security sources confirmed on Tuesday that all 24 girls abducted from Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State, have been freed and are being escorted to the Government House in Birnin Kebbi for medical examinations and debriefing.
Officials close to the Kebbi Governor’s office said the students were rescued earlier in the day and are en route to the State House, where health teams and investigators are prepared to receive them. “The girls have been freed. They are on their way to the State House,” one senior official said.
While the exact details of the rescue remain limited, security sources attributed the breakthrough to intensified joint operations involving the military, police, local vigilantes and intelligence units operating across forest corridors believed to be used by kidnap gangs. The pupils were seized last week when armed men stormed their boarding school before dawn.
The abduction came days before the large-scale kidnapping of more than 300 children and staff at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State — an event that sparked nationwide outrage and renewed concern about the safety of schools in northern Nigeria. The two incidents have revived memories of earlier mass kidnappings in Chibok, Dapchi, Kankara, Jangebe and Yauri.
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday ordered expanded security cordons and continuous aerial patrols across Kebbi, Niger and Kwara states, directing the Air Force to sweep deep forest hideouts suspected of harboring kidnap gangs. Officials described the rescue of the Kebbi schoolgirls as the first major operational success since those directives were issued.
The Kebbi State Government has not yet issued an official statement. Authorities said a formal announcement would follow once the girls arrive safely in Birnin Kebbi and complete preliminary medical and psychological checks.