Father felt helpless as he saw children taken from Catholic school in Papiri, Niger state

A father told the BBC he felt powerless as he witnessed gunmen on motorcycles abduct dozens of children, including his son, following an attack on a Catholic boarding school in northern Nigeria early on Friday.

The father said that he was asleep and woken up by the noise made by the gunmen while they were passing in front of his house with the children they had captured from St Mary’s school in Papiri village of Niger state.

“Them [the children] Just as shepherds controlled their flocks, trade was carried out on foot. Some children were falling and the men would kick them and instruct them to get up.

“There were about 50 motorbikes when the gunmen were checking them out,” said the father, whose name we have changed to Theo for his safety.

Speaking to the BBC from the dormitory where his son was sleeping, Theo said he was in no position to stop the kidnapping.

“I felt like I was going [to help] But I thought better of it. Even if I had left, what could I have done? “I couldn’t do anything,” he told the BBC, adding that he called the police but it was too late by the time they arrived.

Christian Association of Nigeria announced that 303 students and 12 staff were kidnapped It was stated that 50 of the children who ran away from school managed to escape and were reunited with their families.

The school was run by the head of the association’s Niger branch, who shared the list of abductees with the BBC.

However, police said they were only aware of a few children escaping on the night of the abduction and could not confirm that another 50 children had escaped.

Umar Bago, governor of Niger state, told local media that the number of abducted students was exaggerated and that the number was “far, far below” 303.

The governor accused school officials of opening the school despite threats from unidentified gunmen four years ago and two months ago.

“Schools in that area have been closed for four years. I was surprised to learn that the school was still open,” Bago said.

He also emphasized that the attack was just a “horror” and that all students would be rescued sooner or later.

Theo camps outside the school with some other parents, angry at the government’s response to the kidnappings.

“Our children have been kidnapped, but the government doesn’t seem to be paying attention to it,” Theo said.

He said he was disappointed that the state governor did not visit the school and only went to a nearby community to talk to security agencies and local leaders.

“We came to the conclusion that the government does not care about us; we feel that we are not part of the country, they abandoned us.”

The suffering of the parents of the still missing children is obvious.

“I’m sorry, my whole life is full of sadness,” said a mother, whose son was among the children kidnapped by the gunmen.

“He is my only son, he is my first child, please help us,” he said.

Lucas told the BBC that two of his children were kidnapped, but the youngest child, aged six, was lucky and escaped falling into the hands of the kidnappers.

“I was very excited when I saw him. I called his name, he turned and ran to me. So I hugged him and hugged him,” he said.

The northern part of Niger, where Papyri is located, has recently become a hotspot for kidnappings for ransom.

Criminal gangs were banned from paying ransoms in an attempt to cut off the money supply, but this had little effect.

The BBC team drove nearly 500 km (310 mi) from Minna, the capital of Niger state, to Papiri and was advised several times not to use certain routes and was kept in police custody at regular intervals.

Many people blame the crisis on the size of the state. Niger is the largest state in Nigeria in terms of area and is larger than European countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands.

There are also many forests that criminal gangs, locally called bandits, use as camps and roads to connect to other states in Nigeria and neighboring countries.

The school kidnapping was the third incident in Nigeria in a week.

Last Monday, more than 20 schoolgirls, said by the BBC to be Muslim, were abducted from a boarding school in Kebbi state, bordering Niger.

Further south in Kwara state, a church was also attacked, killing two people and kidnapping dozens of worshipers.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu canceled his trip to the G20 summit in South Africa over the weekend in order to deal with the crisis.

On Sunday, he shared on social media that all 38 worshipers kidnapped in Kwara state had been rescued.

As many boarding schools are closed in Nigeria, parents are flocking to pick up their children.

The government is under pressure from US President Donald Trump. He warned earlier this month that he would send troops “with firearms” to Nigeria. if it “continues to allow the killing of Christians” by Islamist militants.

The Nigerian government said that “terrorists attack anyone who rejects their murderous ideology (Muslims, Christians and those of no faith)” and that claims that Christians are being persecuted are “a gross distortion of the truth”.

While some of the kidnappings are carried out by Islamist militant groups, many of them are carried out by criminal gangs for ransom purposes, revealing the deep security crisis in the country.