This was according to a report by BBC Hausa Service published online on Monday, March 11, 2024.

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According to Abubakar, the kidnappers treated them like a ‘herd of cows’ grazing in the bush.

Recall that over 280 pupils and teachers of Government Secondary School and LEA primary school at Kuriga, Kaduna State were abducted by bandits on Thursday, March 7, 2024.

The bandits reportedly invaded the Kuriga area of the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Thursday, shooting at their victims before taking away at least 280 of the pupils and teachers from both schools.

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Narrating his experience, Abubakar said he escaped by craftily hiding in the bush while they were being transported into the forest on foot by the bandits.

He said, “We trekked in the bush; sometimes we crawled. We were so thirsty that some of the girls were becoming weak and falling due to tiredness. The bandits were lifting them and putting some of them on motorcycles.

“We reached a big river, where we drank water and continued trekking. There was a plane that hovered above us. That was when the bandits ordered us to remove one of our clothes and lie down.

“The bandits themselves are tired, they didn’t have anything to eat but they are eating grass and rope in the forest, they didn’t give us anything to eat.

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“While we were trekking, I noticed a shrub that was brown in colour, like my trouser. I hid inside and crawled like a snake. I was there until it was completely silent before I came out and headed to the bush.”

He noted that he met an old man who could hardly walk, so he could show him the way to the side of the road or another town to get drinking water.

According to Abubakar, he travelled a long distance until he later arrived at Gayan, a community from where he finally escaped.

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Meanwhile, Senator Uba Sani who led senior government officials and heads of security agencies in the state to the scene of the attack on Thursday evening, assured the community that those abducted by the bloodthirsty bandits would return unhurt.

The governor said he had spoken to the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu on the matter and that security operatives had swung into action in search of the abducted pupils.

Punch