Gunmen Abduct More Than 200 Students and Staff from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State, Nigeria

Tragic Raid on St. Mary’s Catholic School: Over 200 Students Abducted in Latest Assault on Nigeria’s Christian Communities

In the pre-dawn hours of Friday, November 21, 2025, the serene confines of St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State, central Nigeria, were shattered by the thunderous arrival of armed gunmen. This Catholic boarding institution, a beacon of education for hundreds of young minds, became the latest target in a wave of brazen kidnappings plaguing the region.

According to Reuters, reports confirm that more than 200 students, alongside 12 teachers and staff members, were forcibly taken from their hostels in a coordinated raid that has left the nation reeling.  The incident underscores the escalating insecurity in Nigeria, where educational facilities particularly those serving Christian populations have emerged as prime targets for criminal gangs, often labeled as “bandits” by local authorities.

Eyewitness accounts paint a harrowing picture of the assault. Around 2:00 a.m. local time, heavily armed assailants stormed the school premises, firing sporadically to instill terror and quell resistance. Students, many as young as 10, were roused from sleep and herded into waiting vehicles under the cover of darkness. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), a prominent umbrella body for Christian denominations, swiftly issued a statement verifying that 215 pupils and 12 educators were abducted, highlighting the scale of the tragedy.  This figure aligns closely with initial police reports, though some sources, including local media, suggest the total could exceed 300 when accounting for unverified counts of additional staff and visitors caught in the chaos.  As of November 22, no group has officially claimed responsibility, but security analysts point to the modus operandi of bandit syndicates operating from forested hideouts in the northwest and central belts of the country.

This abduction at St. Mary’s is not an isolated incident but part of a disturbing pattern of violence that has disproportionately affected Christian communities in Nigeria. Just days earlier, on November 18, gunmen raided a boarding school in Maga, Kebbi State, kidnapping over 20 Muslim schoolgirls and killing two individuals in the process.  However, the targeting of a Catholic institution like St. Mary’s evokes deeper concerns about religious motivations intertwined with economic extortion. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with approximately 220 million inhabitants, is roughly divided between a Muslim-majority north and a Christian-majority south. In recent years, the north-central region, including Niger State, has witnessed a surge in attacks on Christian schools, churches, and villages, often attributed to Fulani herdsmen militias or Islamist insurgents rejecting non-conformist ideologies.  According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Nigeria has been designated a “Country of Particular Concern” since 2020 due to systematic violations of religious freedom, with Christians bearing the brunt of abductions, killings, and property destruction.

The broader context of school kidnappings in Nigeria reveals a systemic crisis. Since 2014, when Boko Haram insurgents abducted 276 girls from Chibok in Borno State, a event that galvanized global attention over 1,600 students have been kidnapped across the country, according to data compiled by the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.  These raids, primarily driven by ransom demands, have netted criminals millions of dollars, exacerbating poverty and instability. In Niger State alone, banditry has displaced thousands and crippled local economies reliant on agriculture. The St. Mary’s attack occurred defiantly against a recent gubernatorial directive to shutter all boarding schools amid heightened threats, a measure the institution allegedly ignored, reopening without official clearance and tragically exposing its charges to peril.

Responses from Nigerian authorities have been prompt but face skepticism due to past delays in similar cases. President Bola Tinubu, whose administration has prioritized security reforms, canceled scheduled international engagements, including the G20 Summit in South Africa, to oversee rescue operations personally.  Security forces, comprising the military and police, have launched joint sweeps through the dense forests bordering Niger and neighboring Kaduna State, where bandits are believed to have retreated with their captives. “We are combing every inch of the terrain,” affirmed a spokesperson for the Niger State Police Command, vowing no stone unturned in the pursuit of justice.  CAN has appealed for prayers and urged the government to expedite negotiations, warning that delays could endanger the lives of the young victims. (BBC News)

Internationally, the abduction has drawn sharp condemnation and calls for solidarity. The Vatican issued a statement from Pope Francis expressing profound sorrow and demanding the immediate release of the children, emphasizing the universal right to education free from violence.  Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have renewed pressures on the Nigerian government to address root causes, including underfunded intelligence and porous borders that enable arms trafficking. In the United States, where Nigerian-Americans form a vibrant diaspora, congressional leaders have echoed these sentiments, linking the incident to broader concerns over religious persecution. Notably, the event coincides with discussions in Washington about reinstating aid conditions tied to human rights improvements in Nigeria.

This latest outrage at St. Mary’s Catholic School serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of peace in Nigeria’s heartland. While the government maintains that these attacks stem from criminal opportunism rather than targeted religious animus citing numerous Muslim victims in jihadist strongholds the optics of repeated strikes on Christian sites fuel narratives of systemic bias.  Families of the abducted now huddle in vigil, their hopes pinned on a swift resolution. As the world watches, the onus falls on Nigerian leaders to fortify protections for vulnerable institutions and invest in community-based early warning systems. Education, after all, is the cornerstone of any society’s future; its desecration by violence threatens not just individual lives but the very fabric of national progress.

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In the face of such adversity, resilience shines through. Community leaders in Papiri have organized support networks for affected families, while global Christian networks pledge resources for rehabilitation upon the students’ return. The safe recovery of these innocent children remains paramount—a collective imperative that transcends borders and faiths. Until then, the echoes of that fateful night will linger, a call to action against the shadows encroaching on Nigeria’s promise.