Gunmen raid St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State, abducting 52 pupils & staff. Second Christian school attack in days amid rising violence.
Newsroom (21/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) Heavily armed men attacked St. Mary’s Catholic Boarding School in the Papiri community of Agwara Local Government Area in the early hours of Friday, November 21, abducting more than 50 students and staff members in the latest assault on a Christian educational institution in northern Nigeria.
Local broadcaster Arise TV reported that 52 children were missing following the 2 a.m. raid. The Niger State Police Command confirmed the incident, stating that “armed bandits” stormed the school dormitories, fired shots to create panic, and herded an undetermined number of pupils and workers into the surrounding forest.
The Catholic Diocese of Kontagora said one school security guard sustained serious gunshot wounds during the attack. Several students managed to flee and sought refuge in nearby homes, but the majority were taken.
Dauda Chekula, a grandfather of four abducted pupils, told journalists the community awoke to the sound of gunfire and children screaming. “They ran in different directions; some came to our houses, others were marched into the bush,” he said.
The sprawling school complex, which includes an adjacent primary section and more than 50 buildings, had only local vigilantes providing security at the time of the attack, residents confirmed.
State authorities revealed they had received credible intelligence of an imminent threat and ordered the temporary closure of all boarding schools in four high-risk local government areas, including Agwara. However, St. Mary’s reopened without formal clearance, a decision officials described as exposing students to “avoidable danger.”
The incident marks the second attack on a Christian school in less than a week. On Monday, November 17, gunmen abducted 25 girls from a government secondary school in Kebbi State, killing one staff member. Twenty-four girls remain in captivity.
In a separate incident the same week, armed men stormed a church in Kwara State, killing two worshippers and kidnapping 38 others who are being held for ransom.
President Bola Tinubu postponed his attendance at the G20 summit in response to the escalating violence, pledging that the federal government would deploy “all state resources” to secure the release of all hostages.
No group has claimed responsibility for the St. Mary’s abduction. Security officials attribute the raid to criminal gangs known locally as “bandits” who have terrorised northwestern and north-central Nigeria for years through mass kidnappings for ransom.
The attack is part of a decade-long pattern of school abductions that began with the 2014 kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram. Since then, at least 1,500 students have been seized across the north and central regions, according to monitoring groups.
The renewed targeting of Christian institutions has intensified international concern. The outgoing U.S. administration under President Donald Trump repeatedly described attacks on Nigerian Christians as persecution, with some officials floating the possibility of direct intervention if the violence persists. Two days ago, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations characterised the pattern as “genocide,” a designation firmly rejected by Abuja.
Local Catholic leaders have called for urgent government protection while continuing pastoral support to traumatised families. As rescue operations continue in Niger State, communities in the region remain on edge, fearing further attacks on schools and places of worship.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Tribune Chretienne
Related Images:
