Nigeria sees kidnapping of 315 people from school as worst mass kidnapping

More than 300 children and school staff are now believed to have been kidnapped by gunmen from a Catholic school in central Nigeria, in one of the worst mass kidnappings in the country.

The Christian Association of Nigeria said 303 students and 12 teachers were taken from St. Mary’s School in Fapiri, Niger State. This figure is significantly higher than previous estimates.

It said this figure had been revised upward “after verification exercises”.

This kidnapping took place amid a surge in attacks by armed groups. The revised number of abductees surpasses the 276 abducted during the infamous Chibok mass kidnapping in 2014.

Local police said that around 2am (GMT) on Friday, armed men stormed into the school and abducted students staying there.

“Everyone is vulnerable. It’s a surprise to everyone,” Dominic Adamu, whose daughters are at school but was not taken, told the BBC.

A distressed woman told the BBC through tears that her nephews, aged six and 13, had been kidnapped, adding: “I wish they would come home.”

Police said security agencies were “searching the forest to rescue the kidnapped students.”

Initially it was reported that 215 students had been selected, but that figure has since been revised upwards. The new figure is believed to represent almost half of the school’s student population, news agency AFP reported.

Authorities in Niger state said the school had ignored orders to close all boarding facilities after intelligence warned of an increased risk of attack.

They said in a statement that the move exposed students and staff to “avoidable risk.” The school has not commented on the claims.

Kidnapping people for ransom by criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, has become a major problem in many parts of Nigeria.

Ransom payments were made illegal to cut off the supply of funds to criminal organizations, but this had little effect.

Friday’s mass kidnapping was the third kidnapping in the country in a week.

On Monday, more than 20 schoolgirls, identified as Muslim, were kidnapped from a boarding school in neighboring Kebbi province, according to the BBC.

Further south, a church in Kwara state was also attacked, killing two people and kidnapping 38 others.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has postponed a foreign trip, including this weekend’s G20 summit in South Africa, to address security concerns.

The central government ordered the closure of more than 40 federal universities, and some states also closed public schools.

But rising insecurity is raising anger and fear in Nigeria, with citizens demanding stronger measures to protect children and communities.

This mass kidnapping follows claims by American right-wing figures, including President Donald Trump, that Christians are being persecuted in Nigeria, which the Nigerian government rejected.

For months, activists and politicians in Washington have claimed that Islamist militants are systematically targeting Christians in Nigeria.

Earlier this month, President Trump said he would send troops to Nigeria if the African country’s government “continues to allow the killing of Christians.”

The Nigerian government has condemned claims that Christians are being persecuted as a “serious distortion of reality.”

“Terrorists attack anyone who rejects their murderous ideology, including Muslims, Christians and the non-religious,” one official said.

In the northeast, jihadist groups have been fighting the state government for more than a decade.

Groups that monitor violence say most of the victims of these groups are Muslim, as most attacks occur in Muslim-majority northern areas.

In central Nigeria, deadly attacks occur frequently between herders, who are mostly Muslim, and farmers, who are mostly Christian.

But analysts say the phenomenon is often driven by competition for resources such as water and land rather than religion.

In 2014, the Islamist militant group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from a school in the town of Chibok.

The incident sparked international attention and a global campaign calling for their return, including the intervention of then-US first lady Michelle Obama.

Many have since escaped or been released, but about 100 are still missing.