The ongoing spate of school-targeted kidnappings in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is causing a severe escalation of the security crisis. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) confirmed in a statement on Saturday that a total of 315 students and teachers were abducted in the second mass school kidnapping within a week. According to reports, a group of armed gunmen stormed the St. Mary’s School in Niger state, central Nigeria, on Friday morning and kidnapped a large number of students and teachers. Prior to this, the same group had attacked a secondary school in the neighboring Kebbi state, abducting 25 girls.
History of Painful Abductions Haunts National Psyche
CAN stated that the new details were released after ‘a verification exercise,’ which confirmed that ‘the total number of those kidnapped is now 315, comprising 303 students and 12 teachers.’ Out of the 629 students enrolled in the school, nearly half have been kidnapped, causing panic among parents and the local community. Following the increase in regional insecurity, authorities in Katsina and Plateau states have ordered all schools to be closed temporarily. The Niger state government has also closed several schools and heightened security vigilance. Meanwhile, as the national crisis deepens, President Bola Tinubu has decided to cancel his attendance at international events, including the G20 summit in Johannesburg, and will remain within the country.
Local groups have also noted an increase in violent incidents targeting the Christian community in Nigeria. Just days after US President Donald Trump claimed that Christians were being killed by radical Islamists in Nigeria and issued a warning of military intervention, attacks were reported on two churches in the country’s western region, resulting in two deaths. Additionally, two new kidnapping campaigns were reported around the same time.
The history of school-targeted kidnappings in Nigeria is particularly painful. The abduction of nearly 300 girls by Boko Haram jihadists in Chibok, Borno state, almost a decade ago remains a deep wound in the Nigerian psyche. Some of those girls are still missing, which makes the current incidents even more terrifying.
