Nigerian authorities have secured the discharge of 130 kidnapped schoolchildren taken by gunmen from a Catholic faculty in November, a presidential spokesman stated on Sunday, after 100 had been freed earlier this month.
“One other 130 kidnapped Niger state pupils launched, none left in captivity,” Sunday Dare stated in a put up on X.
Wave of mass abductions
In late November, lots of of scholars and employees had been kidnapped from St Mary’s co-educational boarding faculty in north-central Niger state.
The assault got here because the nation buckled beneath a wave of mass abductions paying homage to the notorious 2014 Boko Haram kidnapping of schoolgirls within the city of Chibok.
The west African nation suffers from a number of interlinked safety considerations, from jihadists within the northeast to armed “bandit” gangs within the northwest.
The precise quantity taken from St Mary’s has been unclear all through the ordeal.
Initially, the Christian Affiliation of Nigeria (CAN) stated 315 college students and employees had been unaccounted for after the assault within the rural hamlet of Papiri.
Round 50 of them escaped instantly afterwards, and on December 7 the federal government secured the discharge of round 100.
That would go away about 165 regarded as nonetheless in captivity earlier than Sunday’s announcement that 130 had been rescued.
However a UN supply advised AFP that every one these taken appeared to have been launched – as dozens thought to have been kidnapped had actually managed to run off in the course of the assault, and make their means dwelling.
The accounting has been difficult as a result of the kids’s properties are scattered throughout swathes of rural Nigeria, generally requiring three or 4 hours of journey by bike to succeed in their distant villages, the supply stated.
The supply advised AFP that “the remaining set of women/secondary faculty college students might be taken to Minna”, the capital of Niger state, on Monday.
“We’ll must nonetheless do remaining verification,” Daniel Atori, a spokesman for CAN in Niger state, advised AFP.
He added that Niger state Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago had known as the bishop of the Kontagora diocese, which runs the college, “to substantiate the discharge of the kids and academics”, although “the determine was not talked about”.
Spate of mass kidnappings
It has not been made public who seized the kids from their boarding faculty, or how the federal government secured their launch.
Analysts have stated that primarily based on previous rescues, it was possible the authorities paid a ransom, which is technically prohibited by legislation.
Kidnappings for ransom are a typical means for criminals and armed teams to make fast money in Nigeria.
However a spate of mass abductions in November put an uncomfortable highlight on the nation’s already grim safety state of affairs.
Assailants kidnapped two dozen Muslim schoolgirls, 38 church worshippers and a bride and her bridesmaids – with farmers, ladies and youngsters additionally taken hostage.
The kidnappings got here as Nigeria faces a diplomatic offensive from america, the place President Donald Trump has alleged that there have been mass killings of Christians that amounted to a “genocide” and threatened army intervention.
Nigeria’s authorities and impartial analysts reject that framing, which has lengthy been utilized by the Christian proper in america and Europe.
One of many first mass kidnappings that drew worldwide consideration was in 2014, when practically 300 women had been snatched from their boarding faculty within the northeastern city of Chibok by Boko Haram jihadists.
A decade later, Nigeria’s kidnap-for-ransom disaster has “consolidated right into a structured, profit-seeking business” that raised some $1.66 million between July 2024 and June 2025, in accordance with a latest report by SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based consultancy.
By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
