Hopes are now high following reports that the abducted schoolgirls of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Talata Mafara Local Government Area in Zamfara State may regain freedom Sunday.

Sources have told Sunday Punch that negotiations with the bandits and state government have begun, and almost concluded.

The girls have been in captivity for three days now.

The kidnapped schoolgirls were said to have been kept in a forest between Dangulbi and Sabon Birnin Banaga in the Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

“As I am speaking to you now (Saturday), vehicles have been arranged for their evacuation to Gusau town, the state capital,” Punch quoted a source to have said.

The newspaper source debunked media reports that the kidnapped schoolgirls are 317, establishing that they are 279.

Parents of the kidnapped schoolgirls including Garba Ibrahim have confirmed that their children would regain freedom soon. They said that the government has hinted to them of the plans to release their children soon, urging them to relax, the outlet said.

Though the state government is yet to confirm or deny the state of negotiations, Information commissioner Suleman Anka insisted that the state is hoping to welcome the schoolgirls soon.

The  police have said it will continue to collaborate with the military and State Security Services to rescue the girls from abductors.

Bandits have now taken to abduction of school children as means to extort money from the government.

The criminals in the week past kidnapped dozens of students and workers of Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State. The Gazette exclusively reported that N800 million  was paid for their freedom.