Two weeks have passed since gunmen stormed St. Mary’s Catholic Boarding School in Papiri. This remote community in Niger State remains in shock. Silence is the only answer for families of over 250 missing students.
Agonizing waits have turned anxiety into despair. Parents feel the government’s response to this massive kidnapping has been dangerously slow.
A Father’s Nightmare
Sunday Gbazali is a local farmer and father of twelve. Sleep has become a stranger to him. Attackers seized his 14-year-old son during the November 21 raid.
Gbazali described a household consumed by grief. His wife weeps constantly over their son’s fate.
“They are just telling us to exercise patience,” Gbazali said, his voice trembling. “We don’t know if he is sick, healthy, or even alive.”
He expressed his pain, noting he never understood the agony of abduction until it hit his home.
The Raid and the Fallout
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) provided grim statistics. They reported that assailants abducted 303 students and 12 staff members.
Approximately 50 pupils managed to escape immediately. However, the whereabouts of the remaining hostages remain unknown. Some victims are as young as six.
Unarmed volunteer guards protected the school. They fled when heavily armed attackers arrived. Now, the facility stands empty.
This incident echoes the tragic 2014 Chibok abduction by Boko Haram. It serves as a grim reminder that schools in northern Nigeria remain vulnerable targets.
Security Emergency Declared
President Bola Tinubu faces heightened pressure regarding internal security. In response to surging violence, he declared a nationwide security emergency.
The President ordered the immediate recruitment of thousands of personnel. This includes additional army and police units to bolster defenses.
National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu visited local Catholic leaders in Kontagora on Monday. He assured the community that intelligence indicates the children are “doing fine.”
However, days have passed without a concrete breakthrough. Kidnappers are likely hiding captives in the vast forests of Niger State. They have not yet made ransom demands, leaving families in limbo.
Controversy Over Casualty Figures
Tensions flared last Friday. Authorities mandated that parents physically register missing children at the school.
This directive followed comments by Niger State Governor Mohammed Umar Bago. He publicly suggested that abduction figures were exaggerated.
Reverend Father Stephen Ndubuisi-Okafor oversaw the registration. He insisted the numbers are real. “The government and the public need evidence,” he stated.
State Police Spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun urged patience. He noted that police records currently list 215 students as missing. However, Bishop Bulus Yohanna cautioned that the list is incomplete due to poor cellular networks in remote areas.
“A Relentless Cycle of Terror”
The abduction reignited the “#BringBackOurGirls” movement. In an open letter, activists described the attack as part of a “systemic failure” spanning eleven years.
They estimate that at least 1,800 students have been snatched since Chibok. They term this a “relentless cycle of terror.”
The security vacuum is devastating education. Rights groups report that nearly 20,500 schools across seven northern states have closed following the St. Mary’s attack.
For survivors, the psychological toll is heavy. Thirteen-year-old Stephen Samuel, who escaped, expressed deep hopelessness.
“When these people come back, will we be able to go to school again?” Samuel asked. “I am thinking maybe school has ended.”
READ ALSO: Nvidia Claims 10x Performance Leap in Battle for AI Inference Market
