Nigeria's Schools on Lockdown as Mass Kidnapping Stuns Country
At least 303 students and teachers have been kidnapped in Nigeria's St Mary's co-educational school, according to a Christian group. This is the largest mass kidnapping in the country since last year when over 25 girls were seized from another school in Kebbi state.
The attack occurred on Friday morning, just hours after gunmen stormed a secondary school in neighboring Kebbi state, taking 25 girls into custody. The latest number of kidnappers – 303 students and 12 teachers – represents nearly half the student population at St Mary's school.
The Nigerian government has not commented on the scale of the attack but its governor, Mohammed Umar Bago, confirmed that intelligence officers are working to determine the number of victims. As a precautionary measure, all schools in Niger state have been shut down. In nearby states, boarding schools have also been closed as security officials scramble to rescue the captives.
President Bola Tinubu has canceled international engagements to focus on resolving the crisis. The US president Donald Trump's comments on Christians being killed in Nigeria appear to have inadvertently triggered these violent incidents, according to critics.
The United States Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, called for urgent and long-term action to curb violence against Christians. The country is still reeling from a similar incident involving nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram extremists over a decade ago.
It has been reported that bandit gangs, often seeking ransom payments, have targeted schools in rural areas with weak state security presence.
At least 303 students and teachers have been kidnapped in Nigeria's St Mary's co-educational school, according to a Christian group. This is the largest mass kidnapping in the country since last year when over 25 girls were seized from another school in Kebbi state.
The attack occurred on Friday morning, just hours after gunmen stormed a secondary school in neighboring Kebbi state, taking 25 girls into custody. The latest number of kidnappers – 303 students and 12 teachers – represents nearly half the student population at St Mary's school.
The Nigerian government has not commented on the scale of the attack but its governor, Mohammed Umar Bago, confirmed that intelligence officers are working to determine the number of victims. As a precautionary measure, all schools in Niger state have been shut down. In nearby states, boarding schools have also been closed as security officials scramble to rescue the captives.
President Bola Tinubu has canceled international engagements to focus on resolving the crisis. The US president Donald Trump's comments on Christians being killed in Nigeria appear to have inadvertently triggered these violent incidents, according to critics.
The United States Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, called for urgent and long-term action to curb violence against Christians. The country is still reeling from a similar incident involving nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram extremists over a decade ago.
It has been reported that bandit gangs, often seeking ransom payments, have targeted schools in rural areas with weak state security presence.
they say the US prez's comments triggered these incidents but how can one man's words cause something like this? 
it's like a domino effect, first it's the girls in Kebbi state and now over 300 kids in St Mary's are gone... what's going on in Nigeria? 
they need to find out who's behind these attacks and bring them to justice ASAP 
303 kids & teachers held hostage in one school?? like what's going on in nigeria rn? 
i mean we've heard of boko Haram before but this is just crazy 
and now the US president is commenting on it?! 
what does he even know about nigeria or the situation tho? 
i hope the gov gets their act together & rescues everyone ASAP 
this is just too much 
Kids go to school, expect learn and grow, but now they're facin' life-or-death situations? It's just too much, man. 303 students and teachers taken away from their loved ones, families left with no answers... it's heartbreaking.
. schools r already vulnerable 2 bandit gangs & corruption 
. ppl need 2 stop blaming others 4 Nigeria's problems & start takin responsiblity themselves 
It's no wonder people are calling for urgent action, like the US Defense Secretary said. But what's really concerning is that this has happened before... it feels like the bandit gangs are just getting bolder 
. The fact that they're targeting schools with weak security presence is just alarming. President Bola Tinubu needs to get his act together and get those kids back home ASAP! 
. what's going on here? are we just talking about stopping ransom payments or is there more to it? i mean, president tinubu canceling his engagments is a good start but we need concrete actions too 
We must do better as a global community to support each other in times of crisis. 