LAGOS: A Christian group on Saturday said 315 students and teachers were seized a day earlier in Nigeria’s second mass school abduction in a week, as security fears mounted in Africa’s most populous nation.
The early Friday raid on St. Mary’s school in Niger state in central Nigeria came after gunmen on Monday stormed a secondary school in neighboring Kebbi state, abducting 25 girls.
The Christian Association of Nigeria said the new number came “after a verification exercise” following the early Friday mass kidnapping, and added that “The total number of victims abducted ... is now 303 students and 12 teachers.”
The number of students kidnapped is almost half of the school’s 629 enrolled pupils.
Authorities in the nearby states of Katsina and Plateau have ordered all schools to close as a precautionary measure.
The Niger state government closed many schools and President Bola Tinubu canceled international engagements, including attending the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to handle the crisis.
The two abduction operations and an attack on a church in the west of the country, in which two people were killed, have happened since US President Donald Trump threatened military action over what he called the killing of Christians by radical Islamists in Nigeria.
Nigeria is still scarred by the kidnapping of nearly 300 girls by Boko Haram jihadists at Chibok in northestern Borno state more than a decade ago. Some of those girls are still missing.
Christian group says 315 seized in latest Nigerian school kidnapping
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Christian group says 315 seized in latest Nigerian school kidnapping
- The number of students kidnapped is almost half of the school’s 629 enrolled pupils
Macron vows stronger cooperation with Nigeria after mass kidnappings
- Macron wrote on X that France “will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations”
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday that France will step up cooperation with Nigeria after speaking with his counterpart, as the West African country faces a surge in abductions.
Nigeria has been wracked by a wave of kidnappings in recent weeks, including the capture of over 300 school children two weeks ago that shook Africa’s most populous country, already weary from chronic violence.
Macron wrote on X that the move came at Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s request, saying France “will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations,” while urging other countries to “step up their engagement.”
“No one can remain a spectator” to what is happening in Nigeria, the French president said.
Nigeria has drawn heightened attention from Washington in recent weeks, after US President Donald Trump said in November that the United States was prepared to take military action there to counter the killing of Christians.
US officials, while not contradicting Trump, have since instead emphasized other US actions on Nigeria including security cooperation with the government and the prospect of targeted sanctions.
Kidnappings for ransom by armed groups have plagued Nigeria since the 2014 abduction of 276 school girls in the town of Chibok by Boko Haram militants.
The religiously diverse country is the scene of a number of long-brewing conflicts that have killed both Christians and Muslims, often indiscriminately.
Many scholars say the reality is more nuanced, with conflicts rooted in struggles for scarce resources rather than directly related to religion.
