More than 300 students and teachers were abducted during a predawn raid on St. Mary’s School in Central Nigeria, marking one of the country’s largest mass kidnappings in years and intensifying concerns over rising insecurity. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) revised the total number of missing people to 303 students and 12 teachers after completing a verification exercise, significantly higher than earlier figures released shortly after the attack.
Gunmen stormed the Catholic school in the remote Papiri community around 2 a.m. on Friday, moving through dormitories for nearly three hours before escaping with the victims. Students captured while attempting to flee were among those taken. The children, aged roughly between eight and eighteen, represent nearly half of the school’s population. No group has claimed responsibility, though armed gangs operating in the region frequently target schools for ransom.
Security forces have launched search operations, with police reporting that tactical teams and local hunters are combing nearby forests. Niger state’s government dismissed claims that the school had reopened despite earlier directives to shut down boarding facilities over security threats. CAN leadership countered that no such notice was received, describing the government’s assertion as an attempt to deflect blame.
Authorities in Niger state ordered all schools to close indefinitely on Saturday, prompting similar precautionary measures in neighboring states. The federal education ministry also directed dozens of boarding schools nationwide to suspend operations. President Bola Tinubu postponed planned foreign travel, including attendance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to oversee the government’s response.
The attack occurred days after more than 20 schoolgirls were abducted in nearby Kebbi state and followed a separate assault on a church in western Nigeria in which two people were killed and dozens kidnapped. The surge in violence comes amid renewed claims from U.S. President Donald Trump and other American figures alleging widespread persecution of Christians in Nigeria—claims Nigerian officials argue misrepresent the country’s security landscape.
A staff member at St. Mary’s recalled hearing motorcycles and multiple gates being forced open as children cried during the raid. Families in the region continue to wait for updates as rescue efforts proceed and authorities confront yet another mass abduction in a country long plagued by kidnapping-for-ransom networks.
