President Muhammadu Buhari regime and the Niger state government are unsure of the wellbeing and fate of 136 pupils of the Salihu Tanko Islamic school abducted in Tegina town, Niger state, who have remained in captivity for 80 days and counting.

On May 31, armed bandits stormed the school located in the Rafi Local Government Area of the state and abducted the pupils. Following the initial statement by the state government confirming the abduction, there’s since been no other briefing.

Asked by Peoples Gazette on Thursday if the state government was aware of the state of health and condition of the school children, chief press secretary to the state governor, Mary Noel Berje, said information on the children came from their parents.

“For now, I will not talk about that. Most of the information comes from the parents of the abducted children, and for now, we have not heard any negative news from them.”

Abandoned to their fate, the parents have made efforts to secure their children’s release. The N30 million ransom collectively raised by the grieving parents failed to secure the students’ freedom. Their woes were worsened when the man who took the ransom to the kidnappers was himself abducted.

While Tegina pupils remain in captivity, the Niger state commissioner of information and strategy, Mohammed Idris, was abducted on August 9. Unlike the school children, Mr Idris was freed five days after. He claims no ransom was paid to secure his release.

Mr Idris narrated his ordeal in the hands of his abductor, giving insight into the likely ordeal of the school children who have been in captivity for 80 days and counting.

“I went through a lot of trials in their hands, a lot of dehumanizing things. It is not an experience that I will pray for my greatest enemy. It was dehumanizing, humiliating and degrading,” Mr Idris said in a press briefing shortly after he was released.

“They took me to a no man’s land in the middle of nowhere. I was there exposed to the rains for 48 hours with neither food nor water given to me, with my hands and legs tied,” he said.

Stating that the Niger state government was not involved in the release of Mr Idris, based on its policy of “no ransom payment”, however, Mrs Berje told The Gazette that efforts were still ongoing to secure the release of the 136 Tegina students.

“As for the Tegina pupils, the government has not rested, but has been on the trail of these guys (bandits), and even yesterday, the new police commissioner went to one of the camps all in preparation to continue to search for the abducted Tegina children. The search will continue until these children are rescued,” Mrs Berje said.

Garba Shehu and Femi Adesina, spokespersons for president Buhari, were contacted on Tuesday and Wednesday by The Gazette. However, neither of them responded to calls and text messages from The Gazette.