abuja, nigeria
Reuters
—
Nigeria’s government has rescued 100 children who were kidnapped from St. Mary’s Catholic School in central Nigeria last month in one of the largest mass kidnappings in the country’s history, a Christian group announced on Monday.
Nigerian authorities have yet to publicly comment on the rescue, and it is unclear whether the children were freed through negotiations with their captors and payments made to them, or as a result of a security raid.
There has been a wave of school kidnappings since Boko Haram militants kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in northeastern Borno state in 2014. Ransoms are often arranged by the families of those kidnapped in previous incidents, but Nigerian authorities rarely discuss such payments.
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) spokesperson in Niger State, Daniel Atli, told Reuters the rescue of St. Mary’s Catholic School was confirmed by government officials early on Monday.
On November 21, more than 300 children and 12 school staff were kidnapped by armed men from a Catholic boarding school in the remote village of Papiri in Niger State. Fifty students fled in the hours that followed, but there was no update on the whereabouts or condition of the others until Monday.
The incident, which included a six-year-old youth among those abducted, sparked nationwide outrage over the deteriorating security situation in northern Nigeria. In the northern part of the country, armed groups frequently target schools in mass kidnappings to extract ransoms.
The attack on St. Mary’s Church has put Nigeria in the spotlight as the country comes under pressure from US President Donald Trump over allegations of mistreatment of Christians.
The U.S. Congressional delegation met with Nigeria’s National Security Advisor Nuhu Ribadu in Abuja on Sunday, and the meeting “focused on counterterrorism cooperation, regional stability, and strengthening the Nigeria-U.S. security partnership,” Ribadu said.
