According to a local official, the group of around 300 who the gunmen kidnapped is now released. The girls were from a north-western Nigeria.
Unidentified shooters abducted the girls fr their boarding school in Jangebe, Zamfara state. The shooter then took the kids to a forest on Friday.
On Tuesday, the state’s governor said that the group is free, and the girls are now safe.
The type of kidnappings are carried out of ransom and are common in the north.
Dozens of girls were seen gathered at a government building in Zamfara. From then, they were taken in swift of mini-buses.
The Governor, Bello Matawalle, gladdens his heart to announce the abducted girls’ release from captivity on Twitter.
This follows the gauging of several obstacles laid against their efforts, he added. He additionally stated that he urges all well-meaning Nigerians to rejoice with him. The rejoicing was for the girls who came back and are now safe.
The authorities said 279 girls were freed, implying that the number given by the police was incorrect. The number given by the police last week was around 317.
In a statement from an official to a news agency, the divergence was because a few girls had fled quickly after they were kidnapped.
One of the girls said that most of them were injured and could not carry on walking.
The gunmen said that they would shoot anyone who did not continue to walk. Moreover, they walked them across a river, and they hid them. Additionally, they let them sleep under the shrubs of the forest.
Through negotiations between the government officials and the abductors, the girls were released.
President’s reaction to the news
Mr Matawalle has denied disbursing for the girls to be rescued. But last week, Mr Muhammadu Buhari admitted state governments had paid kidnappers with money and vehicles in the past. Moreover, they urged them to review their policy.
The president said that he felt overwhelming joy at the news of the girls’ release. He added that he is pleased that their ordeal came to an end without any incident.
2014 abduct of 276 school daughters in the north-eastern town of Chibok by Islamist rioters Boko Haram brought the global spotlight to scrouge of raids on schools in Nigeria. But a surge in recent attacks is suspected to be the work of criminal gangs.
The raid in Zamfara state was the region’s second kidnapping in recent weeks. The kidnapping of around 27 students from a boarding school in Kagara in the north-central state of Niger last month before they were released on 17 February.