President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday celebrated the release of 340 abducted students of the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State.

According to a statement signed by spokesman Garba Shehu, the President described their safe return as a big relief to their families, the entire country and to the international community.

President Buhari specifically cited what he called the “spirit of partnership and the collaborative efforts of the government of Katsina, Zamfara and military leading to the release and commended the nation’s intelligence agencies, the military and police force for providing the environment for the safe release of the hostages.”

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Buhari added: “The Governor (Masari) and the army worked extremely hard. As soon as I got the information I congratulated them. The Armed Forces know their job. They have been well trained and properly motivated.”

On the issue of detainees held elsewhere in the country by either terrorists or bandits, the President gave assurances that his administration is acutely aware of its responsibility to protect the life and property of the Nigerians. He urged the citizens to be fair to the administration as it deals with the problems of security, economy and corruption which the administration was elected to resolve.

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“When we came, we made efforts that yielded the return of the Chibok Girls,” he said. “When a similar incident of school abduction happened at Dapchi, we successfully returned all but one of the more than one hundred abductees. When this latest incident happened, we put in our efforts and today we have this result to show.”

The President pointed to the successes of the administration in dealing with security in the South-South and the North East. He said the North West now presented a problem which his administration is determined to deal with.

“We have a lot of work to do, especially now that we have reopened the borders. It is unfortunate that the bandits and terrorists continued to get weapons even under the circumstances of the border closure. We are going to dare them. We will deal with all that,” the President further assured.

He prayed for the full recovery of the students who he said had endured significant hardships in the course of their six-day ordeal.

He also gave further assurances of the determination of his administration to return to safety all fellow citizens held against their will.