The 75 pupils of Government Day Secondary School, Kaya, in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State who were abducted on September 1, 2021 have regained their freedom.

The Nigerian Television Authority broke the news via its verified Facebook page overnight.

Nigerian Police had reported that gunmen abducted more than 70 students in the country’s northwest state of Zamfara.

Zamfara State Police spokesman, Mohammed Shehu, had said in a statement that a large group of attackers stormed the Government Day Secondary School in the remote village of Kaya that Wednesday morning, seizing the pupils. He had given the number of seized children as 73.

“The abduction followed the invasion of the school by large numbers of armed bandits,” he had stated.

Shehu said that Police rescue teams were working with the military to secure the release of the pupils.

The bandits later returned five of the pupils within 24 hours.

A former councilor of Kaya ward, Yahaya Kaya, said that his younger brother’s daughter was among those released by the bandits; adding that the five freed pupils had been returned to their hometown Kaya.

It is not yet clear if any ransom was paid before the pupils were released.

Following the abduction, the Zamfara State Government had ordered the immediate deboarding of boarding facilities in 30 schools.