Terrorists have abducted more than 52 students and teachers from St. Mary’s Papiri Private Catholic Secondary School in Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State. The attack, which occurred in the early hours of Friday, November 21, between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., marks yet another major school kidnapping barely five days after the Kebbi school abduction.
Local officials in Agwara confirmed the incident. Ahmed Abdullahi Rofia, Head of Disaster and Relief for the council, and Bello Gidi, media aide to the council chairman, both verified the development.
Gidi, speaking to SaharaReporters, initially confirmed the abduction and later revealed that the number of victims may be significantly higher than earlier thought.
“The information reaching us is that they have kidnapped over 100 students and teachers. Also, it is a mixed school with boys and girls,”— Bello Gidi, Media Aide to the Council Chairman
As of the time of filing this report, security agencies had not issued an official statement on the attack.
The latest incident follows the November 16 attack on Maga Comprehensive Girls’ Secondary School in Danko-Wasagu, Kebbi State, where terrorists kidnapped about 25 female students and killed at least one staff member. A school guard was also injured during the assault, which occurred around 5:52 a.m.
In the Kebbi case, eyewitnesses reported that the attackers stormed the school compound at dawn as students prepared for their morning routine, shooting indiscriminately before whisking the victims away.
The growing wave of school-targeted abductions has heightened concerns over student safety and escalating insecurity across northern Nigeria.
