350 Nigerian schoolboys were returned home Friday, days after being kidnapped from their schoolhouse by armed gunmen.
The boys arrived back in Katsina, Nigeria, on buses looking fairly well, despite being barefoot and in dirty clothing. One of the boys told Channels TV their captors had fed them small amounts of bread and cassava, according to the Independent.
The schoolboys were taken a week ago by armed captors who came to their secondary school on motorbikes. Who then rounded the boys up and took them into the Rugu forest. The authorities rescued the boys Thursday, but it is unknown how many there were and if some are still missing, The Independent reported. (RELATED: Hundreds Of Boys Missing In Nigeria After Gunmen Raid School)
Before being reunited with their families, the boys were escorted by police to get medical checks as well as meet the governor, The Independent reported. Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, took to Twitter to share a video clip of him congratulating the state’s governor as well as those who carried out the operation.
— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) December 18, 2020
A video distributed online hours before the rescue was announced, purportedly shows Boko Haram militants with some of the schoolboys. However, this footage has not been verified as authentic, according to Reuters.
Muhammadu Buhari is from Katsina and has said that Boko Haram is “technically defeated,” according to the Independent. If the kidnapping is confirmed to be the work of Boko Haram, it would show that the group has expanded across Nigeria.