Fresh details have emerged regarding the large-scale abduction of hundreds of pupils and 12 teachers from St Mary’s Private Catholic School, Papiri, in Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State, more than a week after the incident.
AIT.live reports that the school’s principal, Felicia Gyang, and head teacher, Blessing Amodu, said they heard a helicopter during the attack, while vehicles and motorcycles were used to cart the children away. They added that no security personnel intervened during the raid.
“They should abduct the children so that they can have money,” the teachers recalled hearing some of the attackers discussed.
Investigations by AIT.live indicate that no group has claimed responsibility for the abduction, and no ransom demand has yet been communicated for the release of the pupils and staff.
Meanwhile, parents and relatives of the 239 abducted pupils and 12 teachers staged a protest at the school premises, appealing to the government to facilitate their safe release.
The protest coincided with a government-led exercise to document the names of the missing children.
So far, 215 parents and guardians have been officially recorded, according to Niger State Government sources.
The journey from Minna, the state capital, to Papiri is long and arduous, but the scene at the school was heartbreaking. Parents and loved ones filled the compound with wailing, tears and anguish as they demanded urgent action from the authorities.
Some parents who lost multiple children in the attack were too distraught to speak in detail. Thirty-five-year-old Samson Najajah, whose 15-year-old son was abducted, recounted his own experience as a kidnap victim in 2021.
“The terrorists refused Naira as ransom but demanded Cefa currency,” he told DAILY POST, adding that he could only imagine what the children were going through.
A teacher, Martha Mathias, also shared how her five-year-old daughter inadvertently saved her from being abducted, while her husband was taken along with the students.
The Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese and proprietor of the school, Most Reverend Bulus Yohanna, expressed optimism that the abducted children and teachers would be rescued safely.
