NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — In Papiri, a remote region in Nigeria’s north central state of Niger, 50 children ages 10-18 escaped captivity over the weekend after being kidnapped from a Catholic school late last week. More than 250 remain missing, along with a dozen teachers.
The children escaped individually on Friday and Saturday (Nov. 21-22) and were reunited with their families, said officials from the Diocese of Kontagora.
Earlier in the day on Friday, 303 students and 12 teachers had been kidnapped by gunmen, locally known as bandits, from the St. Mary primary and secondary school owned by the diocese.
“The pupils who escaped did so between Friday and Saturday. They did not report to the school; instead, we are able to confirm their safe return home during follow-up visits and calls from their families,” said the Rev. Jatau Luka Joseph, the Kontagora diocesan secretary, in a statement on Sunday.
No organization has claimed responsibility for the act or demanded ransom for those remaining in captivity.
Luka Joseph said the church was giving the details to help the public understand the scale of the incident and the extensive efforts underway to account for every person.
“We urge the public to remain calm, prayerful, and supportive as these efforts progress,” said the priest.
While the Diocese of Kontagora owns the school, the Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles manage it. The Catholic sisters have requested prayers and solidarity for the safe return of the abducted children and the staff.
“We believe deeply in the power of unified prayer. We need as many people as possible to lift this community before God during this moment of suffering and uncertainty. May God, in God’s infinite mercy, protect the innocent, guide leaders to act with justice and bring all those taken back home safely,” The Vatican News quoted Sister Mary T. Barron, the congregation leader, as saying.
The mass kidnapping comes weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration returned Nigeria to the religious freedom watch list as a “Country of Particular Concern,” due to what the administration said is ongoing persecution and killing of Christians. After the Oct. 31, decision, Trump threatened military action in Nigeria. His first administration put the country on its watch list in 2020.
Nigerians had a mixed reaction to the decision, with some faith leaders fearing it would complicate existing religious dialogue between Christians and Muslims. Others welcomed the decision as crucial in ending the terror in the north and northeast, where Christians have suffered most.
“(This) is coming in the midst of rising insecurities since the designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern,” Catholic Bishop John Bogna Bakeni, the Maiduguri Diocese auxiliary, told RNS.
The incident was one of a series of kidnappings and abductions, according to the bishop, since the abduction of 276 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok in 2014 that shocked the world, inspiring a global campaign #BringBackOurGirls supported by global figures and celebrities, including the then-U.S. first lady, Michelle Obama.
“What evokes more emotion than and causes pain than to target children,” queried Bakeni. “They may demand ransom per head or as a group. This is a despicable act, not only a barbaric and inhuman act in the 21st century, but also callous and diabolical.”
There has been a surge of kidnappings for ransom in northern areas of Niger, such as Papiri, where the school is situated. The dense forests of the state provide bandits or gangs with cover and hideouts. Earlier in the week, before the attack on St. Mary’s school, on Nov. 17, 20 Muslim schoolgirls were kidnapped from a school in Kebbi state, which borders Niger. Islam is the dominant religion in Niger, the largest state in Nigeria, accounting for 98% of the state’s population.
Muslims make up about 56% of Nigeria’s overall population and are concentrated in the northern region, while Christians account for 43% and generally live in the south.
The country, Africa’s most populous nation, is experiencing a number of violent conflicts within its borders. Boko Haram, the al-Qaida affiliate, and the splinter group Islamic State West Africa Province have waged a long-running insurgency in the northeast. In the northwest, attacks and kidnappings blamed on bandits or gangs pose the biggest challenge, while in the north-central, there are frequent clashes between farmers and nomadic pastoralists.
While the attack and the kidnapping at the church school further fuel a view that Christians are being targeted in Nigeria, Imam Muhammad Sani Isah, the chief imam of Waff Road Mosque Forum in Kaduna City, warned the conflict is multifaceted and includes politics, religion, ethnicity, bad governance and ignorance on the side of people.
“The governance in the country is giving room for these kidnappings,” he said. “The governance is not going the way it should in terms of protecting the lives and the property of citizens.
“You may think that only Christians are being killed or may think that only Muslims are being killed, but when you are here in Nigeria, you will know Muslims and Christians are being killed,” he said. “In some areas, the number of Christians is greater, while the number of Muslims is higher in some areas.”
Isah said both faiths were losing people in all parts of the country, with the numbers varying according to different regions.
