ONE hundred of the children who were abducted from a boarding school in north-western Nigeria last month were reportedly released on Monday — but an estimated 165 children and staff remain unaccounted for.
The Governor of Niger State, Umar Bago, received the abductees in Minna, on Tuesday. They arrived in minibuses, escorted by armoured vehicles and military vans, the BBC reported. No further details about their release have been given.
In November, 315 students and staff were kidnapped from St Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School, Papiri. Fifty or so escaped shortly afterwards, leaving 265 still missing, thought to be in captivity (News, 28 November).
On Tuesday, in an interview on Sunrise Daily, a programme produced by Channels Television, the Bishop of Kontagora, the Most Revd Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, said that the government were “doing their best”, and that he was praying for those still in captivity.
“As far as I know — and I haven’t had any contact with the parents yet — but the news has gone round that some of the students have been released,” he said. “We have mixed feelings. On one hand, we are happy; on the other hand, we are still sad, because we still have a very large number that cannot be accounted for.”
He believed that the incident was driven by economic gain, he said, rather than religious motives: “Listening to some of those who escaped . . . when the event was taking place, they heard them say, ‘Let us take more [students] so that we can have more money.’ Now if I go by that, I think this abduction has more to do with ransom rather than any religious undertone.”
He hoped, he said, that “the school will continue running by the grace of God.”
On Monday, in a post on X, the US Congressman Riley Moore, who has backed President Trump’s recent expressions of concern over Christian persecution in the country, thanked the Nigerian government for rescuing the 100 “innocent and precious Catholic school children”.
He wrote: “This is a positive demonstration of the government’s increasing response to the security situation and shows commitment to the emergency declaration laid out by President Tinubu.
“The US’s sense of urgency on our concerns was positively received. I feel that a cooperative security framework is within sight. The now established joint task force between Nigeria and the US is a great example. . . Peace be with you all. God bless the great people of Nigeria.”
In September, the President of Nigeria’s X account posted that “Nigeria’s security challenge is not a war of religion. . . Christianity is neither endangered nor marginalized in Nigeria.”
The CEO of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Scot Bower, said this week: “Nigerian citizens have been terrorised by multiple armed non-state actors for far too long and require urgent effective protection.
“The government must spare no effort in securing the release of every citizen who is currently in captivity . . . and in addressing Nigeria’s unprecedented security crisis decisively, sourcing international assistance wherever possible and whenever necessary.”
