One of the parents, Idris Abdullahi who was full of happiness over the development, said “May God help this government. May God reward the government handsomely. Please, bear with me because of my voice. It is nothing but because I was in tears of joy. There is no doubt, only God knows what was going through our minds.”
The rescued schoolchildren from Kuriga in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, have finally been reunited with their parents in Kaduna on Wednesday evening.
Secretary to the Kaduna State Government, Dr. Abdulkadir Meyere said on the occasion that the children would be handed over to their parents on Thursday.
His words,” We should all thank God. It would be recalled that on the very day that this incident happened, the Governor came down to Kuriga to see you people of Kuriga community to sympathize with you and to assure you, as the Governor of Kaduna State, of his concern, telling you people that, these children are his children.
“He also promised that he would do his best by working with the federal Government and the security agencies to rescue the children. In the mercy of God, what the governor promised has happened. The governor himself would have loved to be here today, but he has gone to Abuja on an equally important assignment. But, he has said that, he would not allow them go back to Kuriga until he comes back tomorrow to personally bid them farewell. By the grace of God, your children will be handed over to you tomorrow,” he said.
One of the parents, Idris Abdullahi who was full of happiness over the development, said “May God help this government. May God reward the government handsomely. Please, bear with me because of my voice. It is nothing but because I was in tears of joy. There is no doubt, only God knows what was going through our minds.”
“First, we are expressing our gratitude to God Almighty who bestowed His mercy on us. There is nothing we are going to say to the Governor other than to thank and pray that Allah rewards him abundantly. We are praying that Allah will protect him, make him succeed in his tenure and get re-elected.
“We have started hearing that the Governor will stand by us and ensure that these our children complete their education up to university level. May Allah make it happen,” he said.
One of the rescued student, Suleiman Lawal, said “It was God that destined that, some people would come and abduct us and take us into the bush and by the will of God, He destined that, we would come out safely.”
“We have been well received. Those that are injured were treated and we are happy.
We are grateful to the government and the Governor of Kaduna State. May God continue to uplift them. Our coming here has given me the desire to pursue my education to a greater height by God’s grace.”
Aisha Mohammed, another rescued student, expressed gratitude to the government.
” The government helped us to see our parents again. We pray that God will continue to uplift them. We are also praying that God will also make our dreams too come to pass.”
The Village Head of Kuriga said “The people of Kuriga now know that the government considers us important people We are grateful for this. We are praying that the abduction of our children will be the last abduction of schoolchildren, not only in Kuriga, but in the entire Country.”
Another parent, Dahiru Abdullahi,said: “We are grateful to God for a day like this. From the moment we got a message from Aminu Jubril Gwadabe that the children had been rescued and they were on their way to Kaduna, at that time, we were together with the Village Head of Kuriga. We went out and informed the parents and it was like we had seen the children ourselves. From that moment, our joy knew no bounds because the news came just when the governor brought palliatives to us.”
“So, we are grateful first to the President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Governor of Kaduna, as well as the Chief of Defence Staff, General CG Musa and National Security Advisor, Nuhu Ribadu and others because they worked tirelessly to rescue the children. This is because in the history of abduction of school children, from Chibok to Yauri, to Kagara and other ones, the children were rescued within 16 days like this one. So, we are grateful,” he said.