In her goodwill message she also called on all stakeholders to continue to exert their different levels of influence and bring the abductions to an end, while lamenting the continued abduction of women and girls in Nigeria by bandits and terrorists.

The President’s wife disclosed the goodwill message on her Twitter handle, @Aishambuhari.

The message which she signed personally was titled “Message of the First Lady, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day 2021.”

The message read, “Today marks the 2021 edition of International Women’s Day. The day offers yet another opportunity for humanity to review and reflect progress made on issues of women and girls.

“This year’s theme: Women In Leadership: Achieving on Equal Future in a COVID-19 World is a strong call to appreciate the efforts of women and girls in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

“COVID-19 has had a huge impact on women; disrupted education and careers, lost jobs, descent into poverty, and proliferation of domestic violence. Many have also died or suffered due to lack of access to basic information on the pandemic, It is therefore important, not just to continue spreading the message of the COVID-19 protocol, but to remember and support those who have been affected negatively by the pandemic in one way or another.

“Away from COVID-19, women and girls in Nigeria have continued to suffer abductions both in the hands of insurgents and bandits.

“As a mother, I share the sorrow and agony of the victims and their families. I am also not unaware of the impact that these abductions could have in reverting many successes we have hitherto achieved, especially in terms of girl-child education and early marriages.

“I call on all stakeholders to continue to exert their different levels of influence and bring these abductions to an end and to assure us that girls are safe anywhere they may find themselves.

“My best wishes to women all over the world for their resilience, hard work, and commitment to the progress of humanity. Happy International Women’s Day.”

Recall that schoolgirls were kidnapped from the school last Friday after an attack by unknown gunmen.

Reacting to this development, President Muhammadu Buhari expressed “overwhelming joy” as he celebrate their arrival.

Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday morning.

“I join the families and people of Zamfara State in welcoming and celebrating the release of these traumatized female students,” Buhari said.

However, while celebrating the release of the students, the President called for greater vigilance by the people so that human intelligence could be collected early enough to nip the bandits’ plans in the bud.

He warned the time has come to reverse, completely, the grim and heartbreaking incidents of kidnapping.

“Ransom payments will continue to prosper kidnapping,” he warned, while urging the Police and the Military to go after these kidnappers and bring them to justice.

Recall that the bandits, dressed in military uniforms, stormed the school on February 17  and abducted 27 students, 12 relatives and 3 staff members.

Their relatives and staff also taken are now out of captivity. They all regained freedom Saturday morning.

It was uncertain if ransom was paid for their release, but it was gathered that the victims were taken to the Government House in Minna.

The bandits had threatened to hold them as long as they wished if the government failed to meet their demands.

Meanwhile, over 317 schoolgirls were abducted yesterday, February 26 at the Government Girls Secondary school in Jangebe, in Talata-Mafara Local Government area of Zamfara State.

This reaction follows the abduction of 317 schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in the Talata-Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

This attack comes in less than two weeks after gunmen kidnapped dozens of students and workers of Government Science College in Kagara, Rafi Local Government of Niger State, and are yet to be released.

Amnesty International via a series of tweets on Friday, lamented that attacks on schools and abductions of girls are war crimes and it undermines the right to education.

The tweets read: “The abduction of girls at Government Secondary School, Jangebe is a serious violation of international humanitarian law, and it undermines the right to education for thousands of children in northern Nigeria.

“The girls abducted are in serious risk of being harmed. Nigerian authorities must take all measures to return them to safety, along with all children currently under the custody of armed groups.

“Education is under attack in northern Nigeria. Schools should be places of safety, and no child should have to choose between their education and their life. Other children have had to abandon their education after being displaced by frequent violent attacks on their communities.”

Lawan gave his remark in a statement by his media aide, Ola Awoniyi, in Abuja.

According to the Statement, the Senate President expressed sadness and outrage that the incident happened while efforts were still being made to rescue those abducted just over a week ago at another secondary school in Kagara, Niger State.

He, however stated that the recurrent attacks on schools and other acts of banditry called for intense soul searching on how the nation arrived at this sorry path and how to cage the monster of violent crimes in Nigeria.

Lawan also expressed his sympathy for the abducted schoolgirls and urged the authorities at all levels to work together to ensure their immediate rescue.

The Zamfara State government who confirmed this to newsmen in Gusau through the state commissioner of Information, Hon. Sulaiman Tunau Anka said 300 school girls were abducted.

The commissioner noted that the bandits stormed the school during the wee hours of Friday and kidnapped the girls while others managed to escape and alerted the general public over the unfortunate incident.

Tunau Anna said the number of the kidnapped students were yet to be ascertained either by the state government or the security agencies, saying investigations were on to ascertain the actual number of students whisked away.

The Zamfara State Police Command in collaboration with the military has commenced joint search operations to rescue the 317 students.

The Commissioner of Police CP Abutu Yaro, the Force Commander Operations Hadarin Daji, Major General Aminu Bande, Brigade Commander 1 Brigade, Nigeria Army Gusau and other state government officials led a heavily armed reinforcement team to Jangebe to complement the ongoing rescue operation in the locations where the students were believed to be taken to.

The CP while interfacing with the Principal of the school and the parents appealed to them to be calm as joint efforts of the Police and other security agencies will surely lead to the successful rescue of the students.

The Senate, thereby asked President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency on security without further delay.

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, who described the kidnap of the students as unfortunate, stated that the security agencies had challenges with personnel and funds.

“Abduction of students from school happens in the northern part of Nigeria.

“With incidences like this, parents would be scared to take their wards to school, and the efforts of the past and by present leaders at providing education would be defeated.

“Service chiefs have to secure the schools and have to carry the states along,” he said.

Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), a member of the red chamber said the terrorist who whisked their victims away were dressed in military uniforms.

He said the actual number of students abducted was not known but that the school had over 1000 students.

The Senator said security agencies had explained that they were on the trail of the criminals.

The Senate demanded the implementation of its ad hoc resolution on security and urged the combined team of military and police to set up an operation to destroy criminal camps across the country.

Senator Bima Enagi, also from Niger State, declared that the Buhari regime was incompetent to handle security challenges in the country.

He said, “We need to amend the constitution so that governors should be chief security officers of their states since the government at the centre had failed to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians.

“The Federal Government is busy giving palliative instead of creating employment, thus aggravating insecurity.”

Adeboye made this announcement on Friday, August 2, while giving a talk at the church camp along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, explaining that the ministers have been adopted since on Thursday, August 1, along the Ijebu-Ode axis.

Pastor Adeboye, while admonishing the congregation to pray for the release of the abductees, noted that it was the first time incident of such magnitude will occur.

“As a father, how do you think I should feel to hear that five of my children have been kidnapped while on their way to attend the ministers’ conference?” he queried.