One of the released Kankara schoolboys, Abubakar Salisu, said many of his schoolmates were not willing to return to school after their ordeal at the hands of their abductors.
He spoke in a video that has since gone viral.
Recall that 344 Kankara schoolboys were abducted from their school in Katsina on Friday, December 11 and taken into the forests of neighbouring Zamfara State.
However, they were released on Thursday, December 17, after government negotiated with their abductors, with Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle insisting that no ransom was paid.
Salisu said that many of the Kankara schoolboys were unwilling to return to school.
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“None of us is willing to go back there (school). But some will go if the government increases the number of security operatives guarding us, without that we are not going back,” he said.
Asked why this was so, he explained that the location of the school was too remote.
“In terms of security, the school is too far from town. When they came to kidnap us, the army and police arrived late. They already gathered us parked us inside the forest before the army and police came,” Salisu said.
He explained that he was happy for regaining his freedom.
Asked to explain his experience, he said, “At the time we were there (kidnappers’ den), we were kept in the cold. They gave us only cassava to eat.
“At night, we defecate and urinate on the same spot that we sleep. If we request to use the toilet, we are beaten.”
Salisu said the abducted Kankara schoolboys went 48 hours without food and had no mattress.
“I feel hungry. I am not feeling fine. I am sick,” he lamented.
The Herald had reported that President Muhammadu Buhari met the Kankara schoolboys on Friday afternoon.