Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, received mixed feedback from Nigerian after welcoming the abducted GGSS Jangebe schoolgirls who regained freedom on Tuesday.

Al least 279 of the 317 girls abducted by bandits at 1 a.m. on Friday were received by the governor in Zamfara with 38 girls still unaccounted for.

The Zamfara kidnap is Nigeria’s third school attack in less than three months and the government has received a lot of backlashes for the level of insecurity and the handling of cases related to bandits in the northern part of the country.

Matawalle on Tuesday confirmed the release of the schoolgirls – “Alhamdulillah! It gladdens my heart to announce the release of the abducted students of GGSS Jangebe from captivity. This follows the scaling of several hurdles laid against our efforts. I enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to rejoice with us as our daughters are now safe.”

He also posted photos of the schoolgirls on Twitter and has received positive and negative reactions from Nigerians aggrieved that abduction is carried out with ease in the north while the government allegedly waste resources on ransom to secure the victims’ release.

Some were, however, simply glad that the schoolgirls have returned home safely. See some comments under the governor’s tweet below:

@abunature318 is thankful that the girls are back. He said, “Alhamdu-Lillah. May Allah bring an end to the security challenges bedevilling our State and Nigeria.”

But according to @ZirraAmos, the release of the girls is not an achievement on the part of the governor, she said, “Mallam, this is not an achievement. You should apologise to Nigerians and to Zamfara people for failing to protect them.”

Another follower, @chipon4ski added, “Stop celebrating incompetence and failure, We shouldn’t be discussing kidnapping and releasing in 2021. The North should fix its state.”

@AmeenahObiwale slammed Marawalle and the President, Major General Muhammed Buhari for allegedly securing the release of the girls by paying a ransom.

“You are not serious. You ought to have used the money used for this rescue to provide security for the school. @MBuhari should stop helping you to pay ransom, so that you will start getting responsible,” she tweeted.

@AASKaura said, “Alhamdulillah and may u continue to succeed in making effort to see the end of these evil act in our state and country.”

@kezinshen commented thus: “Continue to be kidnapping yourself and be rescue yourself at the same time. All your leaders including traditional and religious leaders are saboteurs. Peace can only be achieved only if your community people want peace for themselves. Fulani kidnap Hausa. Make una continue.”

“So how did they get back the girls (if at all they were abducted) Was there a gunfight? Did ya’ll pay their ransom or ya’ll just nicely asked the bandits??” @i_Kahmo asked.

Meanwhile, @IsolaOluwaseun1 said, “Doesn’t this seem like a well-acted script? Shouldn’t we desire details for the release? How many kidnappers were apprehended? How much was paid as ransom? Will the kidnappers not purchase more weapons either the ransom paid? When will this kidnap game of chess stop?”

@nkemofong added, “So how many numbers of vehicles did the bandits use to convey these girls from their point of kidnapping to the bushes they took them to? We better start telling ourselves the truth about all these.”

See photos of the released schoolgirls below: