Gunmen kidnapped over 200 schoolchildren in Kaduna town of Kuriga on Thursday, according to a teacher, a local councillor, and the missing children’s parents, in the largest mass abduction from a school since 2021.
Police in Kaduna state declined to comment on the abductions, which occurred shortly after morning assembly at the Local Government Education Authority School in Kuriga.
“The number of the kidnapped from the secondary section based on the statistics we took together with the parents is 187 while that of the primary section is 40 for now,” said Sani Abdullahi, a home economics teacher.
Idris Maiallura, a Kuriga local councillor, said he went to the school and saw the gunmen kidnap 100 primary school students before releasing them as others fled.
Parents and residents blamed the kidnapping on inadequate protection in the region.
Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani paid a visit to Kuriga and promised to get the students returned, according to his administration, but he did not specify how many were missing.
Amnesty International urged Nigerian authorities to securely rescue the students and prosecute offenders accountable.
“We don’t know what to do, we are all waiting to see what God can do. They are the only children I have on Earth,” Fatima Usman, whose two children were among those abducted, told Reuters by telephone.
Another parent, Hassan Abdullahi, said local vigilantes had tried to repel the gunmen but had been overpowered.
“Seventeen of the students abducted are my children. I feel very sad that the government has neglected us completely in this area,” Abdullahi said.
Kidnappings for ransom by armed men have become endemic in northern Nigeria, disrupting daily lives and keeping thousands of children from attending school.
The last major reported abduction involving school children in Kaduna was in July 2021 when gunmen took more than 150 students in a raid. The students were reunited months later with their families after they paid ransoms.
