Nigerian authorities have secured the release of 100 children who were among hundreds kidnapped from a Catholic school in northern Nigeria last month, officials and local media reported.
The 100 children have arrived in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, and will be handed over to local government officials in Niger State on Monday, an unnamed United Nations source told AFP news agency.
“Tomorrow they will be handed over to the Niger State government,” the source told the AFP news agency.
Nigeria’s The Guardian newspaper reported on Sunday that the rescued children were receiving medical evaluations and would be reunited with their families after a debriefing.
Presidential spokesperson Sunday Dare also confirmed reports to AFP that 100 children were being released.
Armed men kidnapped 303 students and 12 teachers from St Mary’s School in Papiri community of Agwara district in Niger State on. 21 November.
They included both male and female students aged between 10 and 18, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
Fifty of the students escaped from captivity in the days after they were kidnapped, and returned home to their families. After the release of 100 students on Sunday, 153 students and 12 teachers are believed to remain in captivity.
Days earlier, gunmen kidnapped 25 schoolgirls from the Government Girls’ Comprehensive Secondary School in the neighboring town of Maga in Kebbi State, 170km (106 miles) away.
“We have been praying and waiting for their return. If it is true, then it is good news,” said Daniel Atori, spokesman for Bishop Bulus Yohanna of the diocese of Kontagora, which runs the school.
“However, we are not officially aware and have not been properly notified by the federal government.”
the the last kidnapping they are the worst seen in Nigeria since more than 270 girls from the town of Chibok were kidnapped from their school in 2014.
In total, more than 1,400 Nigerian students have been kidnapped since 2014, in nearly a dozen separate incidents.
The most recent kidnapping took place shortly after US President Donald Trump said that Nigerian Christians are face genocidea claim that was disputed by local officials and Christian groups, who say people of different faiths have been caught up in ongoing violence in parts of the country.
Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, a spokesman for Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Al Jazeera last month that people of all faiths have been affected by the ongoing violence.
“We have constantly made our point clear that we recognize the fact that there are killings that took place in Nigeria, but that killing was not restricted to Christians only. Muslims are being killed. Traditional worshipers are being killed,” said Ebienfa.
“The majority is not the Christian population.”
Trump threatened a military intervention in Nigeria, where he alleged that the country is failing to protect Christians from persecution. He also threatened to cut aid to Nigeria.
Nigeria, a country of more than 200 million people, is divided between the predominantly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south.
According to Pew Research Center estimates, Muslims make up 56 percent of Nigeria’s population, while Christians make up just over 43 percent.
Armed groups have been engaged in a conflict that has largely been confined to the country’s predominantly Muslim north-east and that has lasted for more than 15 years.