Twenty-four schoolgirls released after northwestern Nigeria kidnapping

"I am relieved that all the 24 girls have been accounted for. Now we must put, as a matter of urgency, more boots on the ground in the vulnerable areas to avert further incidents of kidnapping. My government will offer all the assistance needed to achieve this, Tinubu said."

"My son is a small boy. He doesn't even know how to talk, Michael Ibrahim told the AFP news agency. His son, who is four, suffers from asthma, he said. We don't know the condition in which the boy is, said Ibrahim, adding that the abduction had so sickened his wife that she had to be taken to hospital."

Twenty-four girls abducted from a government boarding school in Kebbi State on November 17 were released. President Bola Tinubu welcomed the release and called on security forces to intensify efforts to free others, urging more boots on the ground and promising government assistance. The girls were seized shortly after a military detachment left the school. Mass kidnappings for ransom have become common in northern Nigeria, with armed gangs overwhelming local security. Separate incidents included the seizure of 10 women and children in Kwara State and the abduction of more than 300 students and staff at a Catholic school in Niger State, leaving parents desperate and concerned for their children's health.

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