Nigeria reels after 215 children taken in second mass school abduction in a week | Nigeria
Unidentified gunmen kidnapped 215 students and 12 teachers from a Catholic school in central Nigeria; This was the country’s second mass kidnapping in a week.
The latest kidnapping in the Papiri community in Niger state comes against the backdrop of Donald Trump threatening to take military action to end the “Christian genocide,” which the Nigerian government denies is taking place.
Abubakar Usman, secretary to the state government, said in a statement: “The government of Niger state has received with deep sorrow the disturbing news of the abduction of students from St Mary’s School in Agwara local government area.”
The Niger State Police Command said the kidnappings took place in the early hours of the morning and military and security forces have since been deployed to the area.
Dauda Chekula, 62, said that his four grandchildren, aged between 7 and 10, were among the kidnapped schoolchildren.
“We don’t know what happened right now because we haven’t heard anything since this morning,” Chekula told The Associated Press. “The children who managed to escape dispersed. Some ran to their homes. The only information we received is that the attackers were heading into the bushes with the children still remaining.”
Niger, the largest of the country’s 36 states, stretches from the capital Abuja to the west to neighboring Benin. The incident, which occurred in the early hours of Friday, was the third documented mass school kidnapping in the state in the past decade. In the latest attack in Niger stateIn May 2021, 135 students were kidnapped from an Islamic seminary, and six of them died while being detained.
On Monday, gunmen raided a girls’ boarding school in neighboring Kebbi state, kidnapping 25 schoolgirls and killing the vice principal. Accordingly local reportsSecurity forces passed on information about the plot and spent the night guarding the school but left the scene early.
“Heavily armed security personnel spent time taking photos with the students but abandoned them 30 minutes before the attack,” the state governor said. Later, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu ordered Deputy Defense Minister Bello Matawalle will be moving to the state to assist with rescue efforts.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but analysts and locals say gangs often target schools, travelers and remote villagers in kidnappings for ransom. Authorities say the gunmen are mostly former herders who took up arms against farming communities following clashes over limited resources.
Africa’s most populous country is beset by multiple overlapping insecurity crises in its central and northern states; Kidnapping for ransom is just one aspect of this.
On Monday the extremist group Islamic West Africa Province (Iswap) took responsibility Case involving the death of a Nigerian general in northeastern Borno state. Iswap posted footage of his death and WhatsApp chats about a failed rescue attempt.
Earlier this week, gunmen kidnapped 38 worshipers at a church in Kwara state, Niger state’s southern neighbor, after a brutal attack that left at least two people dead, according to church officials. The attack was seen by millions of people as it was streamed live on the service.
The kidnappers have since demanded a ransom of 100 million naira (£52,662) per person; This is a possible indication that the kidnapping was financially motivated rather than ideologically motivated.
Whatever the reason, the scale and frequency of attacks and kidnappings have increased pressure on the government, which is trying to avoid escalating diplomatic rows with the Trump administration, which has classified Nigeria as a country of particular concern (CPC), a designation given to countries where the government is deemed to be involved in or condones serious violations of religious freedoms.
US lawmakers, including Ted Cruz, have helped spread claims that a “Christian genocide” is ongoing in Nigeria. Trump has since said US forces could enter Nigeria “with firearms” if the country fails to protect its Christian population. As the situation developed, there was a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill and in the Vatican.
“Terrorists, separatists, bandits and criminal militias in Nigeria are ubiquitous in the country, and ongoing attacks often deliberately target Christian communities,” Jonathan Pratt, a senior official with the U.S. Bureau of African Affairs, told Congress on Thursday.
The Nigerian government denies allegations of anti-Christian genocide and says the victims of the attacks were from all religions.
On Wednesday, Tinubu announced he was canceling planned trips to South Africa and Angola this weekend for the G20 and African Union-EU summits respectively.
