Police said the girls abducted Friday by gunmen who made a raid on their state school in the northern Zamfara State in Nigeria. A spokesman for the regional governor, Bello Matawalle, said on Tuesday that all 279 girls had been returned safely.
But violence erupted when the schoolgirls were reunited with their parents in Jangebe on Wednesday, eyewitnesses told CNN.
Witnesses said parents who wanted to take their children home became impatient with government officials giving speeches. Officials also told parents they plan to keep the girls at school overnight before sending them home, observers said.
The video found on the ground by journalists showed the family members entering the hall where the girls and officials were. Young people who came in with the adults started throwing stones at government officials, parents said. Soldiers then opened fire, leading to further chaos with parents scrambling to grab their daughters.
One parent, Safiyanu Jangebe, told CNN: “We were tired of waiting. The government officials talked and talked while we were just waiting to take our children. They started saying that they would hand over the girls to us tomorrow (Thursday). “We could not accept it … some angry young people started throwing stones at the soldiers. They started shooting and shot three children. One is dead. Why is the government treating us without human feelings?”
Abubakar Shittu’s son was one of the teenagers shot. The video provided to CNN by in-hospital journalists showed the boy lying in bed with a bloody leg.
“After they kidnapped our daughters, look at how soldiers came to shoot our children. Now which of these pains are we going to deal with? [with], “Abubakar said in the video as he stood over his unconscious son, who was lying on a hospital bed.
Zamfara police commissioner Abutu Yaro denied that his men shot at parents and children, calling the reports “fake news”.
“I think the parents hurriedly carried their children because they think they come from very far away villages, that was what happened,” he said. “As for the shooting, it’s a fake report, I do not have the report on my desk.”
Immediately after the incident, local government Jangebe introduced a twilight-to-day issue, he announced in a statement on Wednesday. “This is to prevent any further breach of the peace,” the statement said, referring to the shooting.
Kidnapping for ransom is rampant in parts of Nigeria and has become a major security challenge. State governors regularly pay ransoms to secure the safety of victims, but rarely admit that they do.
CNN’s Stephanie Busari reported.