Nigeria gunmen kidnap over 200 Catholic school students

Gunmen in Nigeria have kidnapped a minimum of 227 college students and lecturers at a Catholic college within the northwest, the Christian Affiliation of Nigeria (CAN) says.

It’s the newest in a spate of faculty assaults this week that has compelled the federal government to close 47 schools.

Friday’s incident in Niger state is the biggest mass kidnapping of faculty youngsters for the reason that March 2024 abduction of greater than 200 college students in northern Kaduna state.

Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, the CAN chairman in Niger, mentioned he had travelled to the college. He mentioned some college students managed to flee, however gave no particulars.

“From our report, 215 pupils and college students together with 12 lecturers have been kidnapped by the terrorists,” Yohanna mentioned in a press release.

Earlier, police and native authorities officers in Niger state confirmed the kidnapping from St Mary’s College, however they didn’t say what number of.

Nigeria’s safety state of affairs has been below heightened scrutiny since United States President Donald Trump threatened “quick” army motion if the nation fails to crack down on the killing of Christians.

Within the first high-level assembly between the US and Nigeria since Trump’s risk, Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth wrote on X that he met Nigeria’s nationwide safety adviser on Thursday to debate the persecution of Christians.

Nigeria’s authorities says Trump’s claims that Christians face persecution in Nigeria are a misrepresentation.

Police mentioned safety companies have been on the scene of Friday’s assault on the Catholic college, combing close by forests to attempt to rescue these kidnapped.

The Niger state authorities mentioned the college had ignored an instruction that boarding colleges needs to be closed due to intelligence indicating a excessive probability of assaults.

Different assaults this week embrace the kidnapping on Monday of 25 schoolgirls from a boarding college in Kebbi state and an assault on a church in Kwara state, during which a church official instructed Reuters that 38 worshippers have been taken by gunmen.

The church official mentioned the gunmen had issued a ransom demand of 100 million naira (roughly $NZ122,000) per worshipper.

Kebbi, Kwara and Niger states border each other.

This week’s assaults prompted Nigerian President Bola Tinubu to cancel journeys to South Africa and Angola, the place he was resulting from attend a G20 summit and an African Union-European Union summit.