Armed attackers kidnapped more than 300 students and a number of teachers in one of Nigeria’s largest reported mass abductions, a Christian group said, intensifying fears over security in Africa’s most populous country. The raid took place early on Friday at St Mary’s co-educational boarding school in Niger state. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said an initial count of 227 was later revised to 303 students and 12 teachers, boys and girls aged about eight to 18 — nearly half of the school’s 629 pupils. The federal government has not independently confirmed the figures.
Niger state governor Mohammed Umar Bago said intelligence and police teams were ‘doing the head count.’ His administration, which had already ordered some schools closed, announced the closure of all schools in the state; neighbouring states also shut schools as a precaution. The national education ministry ordered 47 boarding secondary schools across the country to close. President Bola Tinubu cancelled international engagements, including the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to deal with the crisis.
The St Mary’s attack followed a separate Monday raid on a secondary school in nearby Kebbi state that seized about 25 girls. Earlier in the week gunmen attacked a church in western Nigeria during a service, killing two people and reportedly abducting dozens. The incidents occurred after US president Donald Trump threatened military action over killings of Christians in Nigeria; US defence secretary Pete Hegseth urged urgent and lasting steps to stop violence against Christians during talks with Nigeria’s national security adviser, the Pentagon said.
In a video released by CAN, a distressed St Mary’s staff member described hearing motorcycles and cars, then repeated ‘bang, bang’ at the gates. She said children were crying, a security guard was wounded, and attackers moved aggressively through dormitories for nearly three hours.
About 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, nurse Stella Shaibu collected her daughter from a Bwari school after closures were ordered. ‘How can 300 students be taken away at the same time?’ she asked, blaming perceived government inaction and saying she would welcome international help.
No group has claimed responsibility. For years, heavily armed criminal ‘bandit’ gangs in northwest and central Nigeria have raided villages, killed residents and kidnapped people for ransom in areas with a limited state presence. They often target rural boarding schools, maintaining camps in a vast forest that spans several states. While largely motivated by profit rather than ideology, authorities and analysts are alarmed by growing ties between some gangs and jihadist groups from the northeast. The country remains traumatised by the 2014 abduction of nearly 300 Chibok schoolgirls by Boko Haram; some of those girls are still missing.
