Authorities have revealed that about 100 schoolchildren who were abducted from a Catholic institution in central Nigeria last month have been freed.
Adamu Abdullahi Elleman, who is Niger state’s police chief, and Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, in charge of the school as the local leader of the Catholic community, both said that they had received confirmation of the students’ release, per the BBC.
The leaders said the news had been verified by the president’s national security advisor, but Bishop Yohanna stated that it was unclear the day these children would get to see their parents again.
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Multiple local reports confirm that over 250 schoolchildren and 12 staff were kidnapped from St Mary’s Catholic school in Papiri, the latest in a series of mass abductions in Nigeria.
According to Bishop Yohanna, authorities may need time to process the pupils and provide the much-needed support before announcing a formal handover.
Also, he stated that he did not know the students’ current whereabouts.
As of Monday, December 8, details on the release of these children remain unclear, and whether it was secured through negotiation, force, or any ransom is what multiple sources are trying to comprehend.
The local media have also revealed that the governor of neighbouring Nasarawa state, Abdullahi Sule, said the federal government had played a vital role in securing their release.
He added that the behind-the-scenes efforts could not be made public because of security reasons.
Only a week ago, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu visited Papiri in a meeting with a delegation led by Bishop Yohanna, and assured them the children would soon be rescued and brought back to their families.
Schools and places of worship have increasingly been targeted in the latest wave of attacks in north and central Nigeria.
On 21 November, the attack on St Mary’s was preceded by mass kidnappings, and just days earlier, on 18 November, two people were killed, with 38 abducted in an attack on the Christ Apostolic Church in Kwara state.
Then, a day before that, two people were murdered, and 25 Muslim students were abducted from the Government Girls’ Secondary School in Kebbi state.
Since that time, all those taken in the Kwara and Kebbi attacks have been freed.
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Last week, gunmen kidnapped at least 20 people in two separate attacks – at a newly established church in central Kogi state, where a pastor, his wife and some worshipers were taken, and in the mostly Muslim northern Sokoto state, where a bride and her bridesmaids were among those kidnapped, the BBC confirms.
