Fifty of the 303 schoolchildren abducted from St Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State have escaped, the school authority said on Sunday (November 23), offering a rare moment of relief amid one of Nigeria’s biggest mass kidnappings in recent years.
The children, aged between 10 and 18, escaped separately from Friday to Saturday.
“We received good news when 50 pupils escaped and were reunited with their parents,” the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said in a statement, AFP reported.
Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, Niger State CAN chairman and owner of the school, said 253 children and 12 teachers remain in captivity.
Mass kidnapping at St Mary’s
Gunmen stormed St Mary’s co-educational school on Friday and kidnapped 303 students and 12 teachers. The number of abductees represents almost half of the school’s 629 students.
The attack came just days after gunmen stormed a secondary school in neighboring Kebbi state and kidnapped 25 girls, underscoring the deteriorating security environment.
The Nigerian government has not yet commented on the total number of victims or the status of rescue operations.
‘Keep up your prayers’
“As we have received the return of these 50 children who escaped with a certain sigh of relief, I urge you all to continue your prayers for the rescue and safe return of the remaining victims,” said Reverend Yohanna.
Most victims of mass school kidnappings in Nigeria are released after dealing with criminal gangs seeking ransom, a report says.
Pope expresses “deep sorrow”
Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican he “cordially called for the immediate release of the hostages”.
“I feel great sadness, especially for the many girls and boys who were abducted and for their grieving families,” he said at the end of the Mass in St. Peter’s Square. “I urge the relevant authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to secure their release.”
Trump called the situation “disgraceful”
The kidnappings, along with the recent attack on a church in western Nigeria that left two people dead and dozens abducted, prompted a new response from US President Donald Trump.
“What is happening in Nigeria is a disgrace,” he told Fox News Radio, again raising the prospect of military action over what he described as the persecution of Christians by radical Islamist groups.
No claim of liability
No group has claimed responsibility for the latest abductions, and authorities have not provided any updates on rescue efforts. It is unclear where the children are being held or how the group of 50 managed to escape.
The school is located off the main road connecting Yelwa and Mokwa in a region where armed gangs operate from dense forests that span multiple states.
Security crisis
Nigeria continues to grapple with overlapping security threats – from ransom-seeking criminal gangs in the northwest to a deadly Islamist insurgency in the northeast that has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million since 2019.
The growing threat has prompted waves of school closures, leaving millions of children vulnerable and out of the classroom.
