Armed bandits kidnap more than 300 students from Catholic school in Nigeria
By Nimi Princewill, Hira Humayun, CNN
Abuja, Nigeria (CNN) — Armed bandits kidnapped more than 300 students at a private Catholic school in Nigeria’s north-central Niger State, authorities say, the latest in a spate of mass abductions and attacks that have drawn the attention of the Trump administration.
Despite some students managing to get to safety during Friday’s attack, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said 303 students and 12 teachers were abducted in the raid, updating an earlier figure of 215 students. Some are as young as ten.
The figure was updated after a final census was carried out, according to CAN’s Niger State chapter chairman Most. Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, who visited St. Mary’s School on Friday to meet with the parents of the abducted children.
Yohanna said the additional 88 students “were also captured after they tried to escape” during the attack, adding that the students were both male and female and aged between ten to 18 years old, Yohanna’s spokesman Daniel Atori told CNN on Saturday.
Authorities announced some federal and state-run schools in northern Nigeria have temporarily closed following Friday’s abduction to forestall further attacks.
The abduction in Niger state, which borders Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, follows a similar attack on a church by gunmen in neighboring Kwara State earlier in the week. During the church attack, at least two people were killed, and several worshippers, including the pastor, were abducted.
In addition, this week, armed men kidnapped 25 female students when they stormed a government girls’ boarding school in northwestern Kebbi State. The school’s vice principal was shot and killed during this attack.
Nigerian content creator Eze Gloria Chidinma, whose younger sister is a student at the school and managed to escape during the abduction, told the Associated Press she thinks the authorities “are not doing enough” to curb cases of school abductions.
“It’s traumatic,” she said, “I really do not believe in the authorities, to be very honest.” Chidinma’s mother and elder brother were also kidnapped in a separate incident last year.
The Niger State government condemned the latest attack on St. Mary’s School, while local police issued a statement Friday indicating that security forces have deployed to the area and are “combing the forests” in an effort to rescue the abducted students.
Nigeria is facing a wave of attacks by armed groups that target vulnerable civilian populations and orchestrate mass abductions for ransom. The country is also plagued by religiously motivated attacks and other violent conflicts stemming from communal and ethnic tensions, as well as disputes between farmers and herders over limited access to land and water resources.
US President Donald Trump has frequently expressed outrage over disputed allegations of a “mass slaughter” of Christians by Islamist insurgents in Nigeria and has threatened military action to protect this religious group.
Earlier this month, Trump designated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” under the US International Religious Freedom Act, suggesting that his administration has determined Nigeria has engaged in or tolerated “systematic, ongoing, (and) egregious violations of religious freedom.”
But the reality on the ground is more complex and nuanced. Experts and analysts say both Christians and Muslims — the two main religious groups in Africa’s most populous country — have been victims of attacks by radical Islamists. In August, Reuters reported at least 50 worshippers were killed — some shot, others burned alive — when gunmen attacked a mosque in the north-western Katsina State.
Bulama Bukarti, a Nigerian human rights advocate specializing in security and development told CNN: “Yes, these (extremist) groups have sadly killed many Christians. However, they have also massacred tens of thousands of Muslims.”
The recent string of attacks coincides with the arrival of a Nigerian delegation in Washington for discussions with US government officials.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth posted on social media he met with Nigeria’s National Security Advisor Mallam Nuhu Ribadu on Thursday “to discuss the horrific violence against Christians in their country.”
“Under [Trump’s] leadership, [the Department of War] is working aggressively with Nigeria to end the persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists,” Hegseth added.
This story has been updated. CNN’s Eve Brennan contributed to this report.
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