THE freed female students of the Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary in Ikorodu, Lagos State, resumed at the school on Monday, but were immediately whisked away.
The schoolgirls, who were abducted last Monday by 12 gunmen, were taken away by their parents and the school management for another checkup.
It was gathered on Monday that the parents and the school wanted a second opinion on the girls’ state of health.
The schoolgirls were abducted from the school by the bandits while studying in a classroom.
A special team formed by the Inspector-General of Police led by CSP Abba Kyari, the Lagos State Police Command and other security agencies, however, rescued the girls on Sunday and arrested three suspects in the Imota area of Ikorodu.
PUNCH Metro learnt on Monday that the pupils were brought back to school early in the morning and were driven out again after a brief meeting between the parents and the school management.
A source in the school said, “They were here early in the morning, but were later taken away for a checkup in company with their parents and representatives of the school.
“As of now (9.05pm), they have not returned.”
It was learnt that the parties had yet to decide whether the students should come back to school, or follow their parents home to rest till weekend.
It was also gathered that the management of the school had postponed the school examinations which were supposed to start on Monday.
The atmosphere was calm, while subtle noise typical of organised teacher-pupil classroom discussions were heard during our correspondent’s visit to the school on Monday.
Apart from armed policemen, who were positioned at different spots on the school premises, visitors and pupils were barely in sight.
In a chat with our correspondent, a parent, who came to visit her daughter, said the freed girls had been nicknamed, “heroes,” by the school to reignite their spirit.
The parent, who did not want her name revealed, said, “They (the pupils) would have started their exams today (Monday), but they have been postponed for a week. The school felt that the whole drama would have subsided by then. When I saw my daughter this morning, she said, ‘Mummy our heroes are back’.
“That is what they told them so that the victims would not feel stigmatised. She (daughter) had called me yesterday (Sunday) rejoicing that the heroes were back. I noticed that her voice had cracked, but she told me that ‘we shouted 150 Hallelujah’. She was happy and so was I.”
Asked if the school paid a ransom or not, she said, “Even if they (the school) are telling us that they did not pay any ransom, I think it is for security reasons.”
The college Principal, Ven. Adeyemi Olaoluwa, was said to have gone for a meeting with the Anglican bishops of the dioceses which are the owners of the school, making an attempt to speak with him futile.
However, a senior official of the school, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said the freed pupils were back, but had followed their parents to a hospital.
The official said the school had learnt its lessons from the incident, adding that some security measures were being put in place to forestall a recurrence.
He said, “We had a thanksgiving prayer yesterday in the school church. Everything is in order now. Academic work has fully resumed. The freed girls are back. We expect the examinations to start next week.
“The policemen are around and they will be around till new security measures are put in place.”
-punchng