A former Nigerian minister says armed groups may be abducting schoolchildren as human shields. This comes amid fears of foreign air strikes. The claim follows one of Nigeria's largest school kidnappings in years.
More than 300 students and teachers were taken from a Catholic school in north-central Nigeria. The attack happened on Friday at St. Mary's School in Niger state's remote Papiri community. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) updated the number of abducted children to 303, along with 12 teachers. The students are both male and female, aged 10 to 18 years old .
The updated count came after a verification exercise and final census. This was according to the chairman of CAN's Niger state chapter, Most. Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna. He visited the school on Friday and noted that 88 of the students were captured after they tried to escape during the attack .
This mass abduction is part of a worrying pattern. It happened just four days after 25 schoolchildren were seized in similar circumstances. That attack was in neighboring Kebbi state's Maga town, located about 170 kilometers away . In that incident, armed men stormed a government girls' boarding school, kidnapped the students, and shot and killed the school's vice principal .
Former Minister of Information Jerry Gana suggested a possible motive for the surge in kidnappings. He said bandits may be taking children as "human shields" because they fear being targeted from the air. This fear follows threats issued by United States President Donald Trump .
Gana spoke at a reception in Abuja on Saturday. He said the sudden escalation in school abductions may be linked to fears among bandits that they could soon be targeted by foreign powers. "Somebody phoned me just before I came here to say that it would appear that the bandits are taking the threat from the president of the United States seriously. Therefore, it would appear that they are now mobilising human shields to protect them," Gana told the audience .
He added that the geography of the attacks suggests the kidnappers are deliberately retreating into forest hideouts. They may be anticipating aerial strikes. "They fear that they are going to be targeted from the air and therefore felt the need to grab a few people to be human shields," Gana explained . He urged the Nigerian government to work with international partners and use technology to target these groups from the air .
The theory of bandits using human shields comes at a time of growing international attention on Nigeria's security crisis. U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently expressed outrage over disputed allegations of a "mass slaughter" of Christians by Islamist insurgents in Nigeria. He has threatened military action to protect this religious group . Earlier this month, Trump designated Nigeria as a "Country of Particular Concern" under the U.S. International Religious Freedom Act .
However, the reality of Nigeria's violence is complex. Experts say both Christians and Muslims have been victims of attacks by radical Islamists and armed groups . For example, in August, Reuters reported that at least 50 worshippers were killed when gunmen attacked a mosque in north-western Katsina State. Some victims were shot, while others were burned alive .
The recent attacks occurred as a Nigerian delegation was in Washington for talks with U.S. officials. Nigeria's National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, met with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday. Hegseth posted on social media that they discussed "the horrific violence against Christians in their country" .
In response to the school attacks, the Niger state government has shut down all schools. Governor Umar Bago announced the decision on Saturday after meeting with security officials. "It is the decision of stakeholders today to close all schools in Niger state. All schools are closed till further notice. So we have declared Christmas holiday for all schools in Niger state," Bago told reporters. He said the move was needed to protect lives and property .
The state governor's statement contradicted an earlier claim from the state government. Officials had said the school had reopened for studies despite a directive to close temporarily due to security threats. However, CAN's Yohanna described this claim as false. "We did not receive any circular. It must be an afterthought and a way to shift blame," he said. He called on families "to remain calm and prayerful" .
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the abductions at St. Mary's School. Authorities have said tactical squads have been deployed alongside local hunters to rescue the children . Local police indicated that security forces are "combing the forests" in an effort to find the abducted students .
Minister of Information Idris Mohammed, who was at the same event as Gana, disclosed that foreign news organizations were pressing him for updates on the abductions. This shows the growing global spotlight on Nigeria's worsening security situation .
Mohammed said government efforts were underway to secure the students' release. He stressed President Bola Tinubu's commitment to ending the crisis. "My response to them is that while we are counting those who are kidnapped, I'm telling them that by God's grace, we are already working for them to get released. And they will be released in God's name very soon," the minister assured .
School kidnappings have become common in Africa's most populous nation. Armed gangs often see schools as strategic targets to draw more attention . According to the Associated Press, at least 1,500 students have been seized since the mass abduction of 276 Chibok schoolgirls by Boko Haram in 2014 .
The kidnappers in northern Nigeria are a mix of different groups. They include the Boko Haram insurgency and its more sophisticated offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Also active are armed groups known as "bandits." These are mostly former herders who took up arms after clashing with farming communities over limited resources .
These bandits are motivated more by money than religious beliefs. They often attack schools at night, sometimes arriving on motorbikes or dressed in military uniforms. They then disappear into Nigeria's vast, under-policed landscape . There is growing concern about possible links between the bandits and militant groups, particularly in the northwest .
The U.S.-backed Africa Center for Strategic Studies noted earlier this year that bandits are thought to be responsible for about the same number of deaths in the northwest as Boko Haram and ISWAP are in the northeast .
Nigeria's military has struggled for years to combat these various threats. The military has carried out airstrikes and special operations targeting the hideouts of armed gangs . However, the air campaign has sometimes gone wrong. In January, an airstrike in Zamfara state killed members of a local vigilante group and farmers. The military had wrongly identified them as bandits .
Human Rights Watch reported that similar airstrikes have killed hundreds of people in Nigeria. The military calls these killings accidental, but they have become a recurring problem .
Just this week, Nigeria's military announced it had killed 35 jihadists in a series of air strikes near its north-eastern border with Cameroon. The strikes were carried out in four areas to stop the jihadists from attacking ground troops .
The military also said it carried out air strikes on "bandits" in north-western Katsina state. That operation led to 76 kidnapping victims, including women and children, being rescued. However, a child died during the rescue efforts .
The situation in Nigeria remains dire. A group of prominent Nigerians recently said parts of the country are enduring "war-time levels of slaughter" while officially at peace. They cited a report from Amnesty International which said at least 10,217 people had been killed since President Bola Tinubu took office two years ago .
As security forces continue their search for the hundreds of children taken from St. Mary's School, the theory that they are being used as human shields adds a disturbing new dimension to Nigeria's kidnapping crisis. For the families of the abducted, the wait for their children's return continues.