Three separate mass kidnappings have been highlighted in Nigeria this week, prompting President Bola Tinubu to cancel his trip to this weekend’s G20 summit in South Africa
More than 200 school children and some teachers were abducted by armed men in western Nigeria’s Niger state on Friday, the Christian Association of Nigeria reported, in the latest spate of kidnappings in the country.
The Niger State Police Command said the abductions took place in the early hours of Friday, November 21, and that military and security forces had been deployed to the local community.
Gunmen attacked St Mary’s School in Agwara before kidnapping 215 students and 12 teachers from the Catholic school. Police described St Mary’s as a secondary school, which in Nigeria would serve children between the ages of 12 and 17.
The Catholic Diocese of Kontagora said in a statement that one security staffer was “badly shot” during the attack.
The Mirror reported that parents have been told officials are “working with the government and security agencies to see that our children are rescued and brought back safely”.
A satellite image shows that the school compound is attached to an adjoining primary school, The Mirror reported, and is located near a major road linking the towns of Yelwa and Mokwa.
A grandfather to four of the abducted children, Dauda Chekula, 62, said he was waiting for an update.
“We don’t know what is happening now, because we have not heard anything since this morning,” Chekula said.
His four kidnapped grandchildren range from seven to 10 years old.
The abductions come days after a separate armed attack on a high school in the neighbouring Kebbi state. Twenty-five schoolgirls were kidnapped from the town of Maga, about 170 kilometres (105 miles) from St Mary’s School, on Monday, November 17.
Gunmen killed two people in an separate attack on a church in Kwara state on Monday, which also borders the Niger state.
Thirty-eight worshippers were abducted in the attack and kidnappers are demanding a ransom of 100 million naira (£52,500) for each person taken, Femi Agbabiaka, secretary of the Christ Apostolic Church, told The Associated Press on Friday.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu cancelled his trip to this weekend’s G20 summit in South Africa over the recent attacks.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Niger and Kebbi states.
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