Nigerians welcome 130 schoolchildren and teachers released after mass
abduction
[December 23, 2025]
MINNA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerians on Monday got their first look at
130 children and teachers released after being seized in one of the
largest mass abductions in the country's history.
Some of the children appeared to be malnourished or in shock as they
arrived at a government ceremony. Police said they were freed Sunday, a
month after gunmen stormed their Catholic school in Niger state’s Papiri
community in a predawn attack. |
Freed students of St. Mary's Catholic School in the Papiri community
upon their arrival at the government house, in Minna, Nigeria, Monday,
Dec. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) |
|
Authorities said plans were underway to reunite the children
with their families before Christmas.
Authorities earlier said 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were
seized and 50 of them escaped in the hours that followed. But on
Monday, Niger state Gov. Mohammed Bago indicated that 230 had
been taken and all had now been released.
School kidnappings have come to define insecurity in Africa’s
most populous country.
Officials did not say whether a ransom — common in such
abductions — had been paid. No group has claimed responsibility,
but residents blamed armed gangs that target schools and
travelers in kidnappings for ransom across Nigeria’s
conflict-battered north.
Most of those seized in the attack were aged between 10 and 17,
the school said. One of the children released earlier told The
Associated Press that gunmen threatened to shoot them during the
attack.
Maj. Gen. Adamu Garba Laka, national coordinator at Nigeria’s
Center for Counter Terrorism, told Monday's event that Nigeria
will work with community leaders to boost safety in high-risk
areas.
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