Nigerian Parents Say They Are Kept In The Dark Over Abducted Schoolchildren

PAPIRI, Nigeria (AP) — Several parents of more than 300 schoolchildren captured by gunmen Latest mass kidnapping in Nigeria Tell the Associated Press the government told them nothing about rescue efforts, and stress was so high that one of the parents died of a heart attack.

“No one from the government gave us information about the kidnapping,” said Emmanuel Ejeh, whose 12-year-old son was taken from a Catholic school in Niger state.

Meanwhile Nigerian President Bola Tinubu He said on Wednesday that he had declared a nationwide security emergency and ordered the recruitment of additional personnel for the army and police.

No armed group has claimed responsibility for Friday’s abduction of 303 children from the remote area of ​​Papiri; This was the latest in a series of high-profile seizures for ransom purposes. 50 of the students have since escaped.

Increase in mass kidnappings from schools, Trump administration pressures Nigeria to take action He calls it the persecution of Christians there, a claim the Nigerian government denies. Such kidnapping cases have decreased in the last two years.

Experts say Muslims suffer equally or more From attacks by bandits and militants affiliated with Al Qaeda or the Islamic State group.

Parents gathered in the dusty school compound in Papiri and tried to console each other. Ejeh said his wife fainted when she heard their son had been kidnapped.

“It’s very painful,” Ejeh said. “Mathew is a very kind boy who dreams of becoming a football player. He pursues football day and night.”

Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, bishop of the Kontagora diocese, which also runs the school, said one of the two parents of the kidnapped children died of a heart attack.

Nigerian presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga did not directly address parents’ claims that they were left in the dark. Onanuga told the AP on Wednesday that the military was pressuring the gunmen to release the children.

Nigerian officials said helicopters and ground troops were deployed. Military personnel met with concerned parents this week.

The attack came days after gunmen captured 25 students in nearby Kebbi province. All of them were rescued, Nigerian officials said on Tuesday. On Wednesday, police said the students were reunited with their families.

One AP tally It shows at least 1,799 students were abducted in a dozen of the biggest attacks in Nigeria that sparked global outrage, starting with Boko Haram militants capturing 276 schoolgirls in the village of Chibok.

Some students run away. Others are rescued. Some are never seen again.

“The police will recruit an additional 20,000 police officers, bringing the total number to 50,000,” the statement said. “My fellow Nigerians, this is a national emergency and we are responding by deploying more troops, especially in areas where security is problematic,” he added in the statement.

Church pastor Yohanna Yakubu rushed to the school when he heard that his daughter Mercy was among the 12 teachers kidnapped in the Papiri attack. Other grieving parents were already there.

“I went directly to his room (dorm) and saw that the window was broken,” Yakubu said. He described the authorities’ lack of information as frustrating.

These days he sits quietly, anxiety scrunching his face.

Danteni Mathew’s three children were kidnapped, but one escaped. He worries about the health of his missing youngest.

“Yahaya was not healthy before he was kidnapped from school because he is still battling hepatitis C,” Mathew said.

The Nigerian government, which is under international scrutiny following the Chibok mass kidnapping, has launched a Safe School Initiative with plans to involve military assets and train staff to improve security in schools. In some cases, soldiers are deployed in schools deemed vulnerable.

It was not immediately clear whether the Papyri school had this training.

Activists and others claim too little has been done.

UNICEF said last year that only 37% of schools in 10 states in Nigeria’s volatile north had early warning systems to detect threats.

“The truth is that Nigerians’ lives don’t matter to the Nigerian government, and what matters to the Nigerian government is how good they look, so they focus more on propaganda,” said Aisha Yesufu, who helped found the Bring Back Our Daughters movement after the Chibok kidnapping.

Analysts say armed gangs often target schools because they put pressure on the government to negotiate ransoms.

The West African country is battling dozens of armed groups operating in remote communities where government and security presence is limited.

James Barnett, a research fellow at the US-based Hudson Institute, said the crisis had become more complex as groups from other parts of the vast Sahel region joined Boko Haram groups trying to establish a presence in northern Nigeria.

“Both bandits and jihadists may have similar interests in such mass kidnappings,” he said.

Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.