The spokesperson for President Bola Tinubu announced on Sunday that the remaining 130 Nigerian schoolchildren who were kidnapped from a Catholic school in Niger state in November have been released. This incident marked one of the largest mass abductions in the country in recent years.
In a social media post, Bayo Onanuga stated that the schoolchildren abducted by terrorists have now regained their freedom. They are scheduled to return to Minna on Monday to reunite with their families for the upcoming Christmas celebrations. The release of the students was a result of a military-intelligence operation.
These students were part of a group of over 300 pupils and 12 staff members who were taken by gunmen from St Mary’s Catholic boarding school in Papiri village on November 21. While 50 children had managed to escape during the abduction, the Christian Association of Nigeria had mentioned earlier that the government had successfully rescued 100 of the abducted individuals by December 8.
According to Onanuga, the total number of students who have been freed now stands at 230. The kidnapping incident sparked widespread concern about the deteriorating security situation in northern Nigeria, where armed groups frequently target schools in exchange for ransom. The prevalence of school abductions escalated after the abduction of 276 girls by Boko Haram militants in Chibok back in 2014.