A schoolgirl abducted alongside 24 others from a boarding school in northwestern Nigeria has successfully escaped and returned home, bringing a glimmer of hope to a community still reeling from the attack. Officials at the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State, confirmed her safe return on Tuesday.
According to the school’s principal, Musa Rabi Magaji, the student arrived home late Monday, several hours after armed men stormed the school in the early hours of the morning. Another girl, who was not among the 25 officially listed as abducted, also managed to flee shortly after the incident.
“One is part of the 25 abducted and the other one returned earlier,” Magaji explained. “They are safe and sound.”
The assault, which claimed the life of a staff member, triggered a large-scale security response across the region. Nigerian security forces have intensified search operations in surrounding communities and forests in an effort to locate the remaining 24 students still held by the kidnappers.
Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, visited the school on Monday, expressing concern and ordering troops to pursue the abductors with urgency. He directed the soldiers to conduct intelligence-driven operations aimed at securing the immediate release of the girls.
The incident adds to the growing list of school kidnappings in northern Nigeria, where criminal gangs increasingly target educational institutions for ransom. The recurring attacks have heightened fears about student safety and further exposed the fragility of security structures in the region.
Authorities have vowed to sustain pressure on the perpetrators while families anxiously await the safe return of their daughters.