Final release: 130 pupils abducted by gunmen freed from a Catholic school

Nigerian authorities announced on Sunday the release of 130 pupils who were abducted by armed men from a Catholic school last November.

The spokesperson for the Nigerian presidency, Sunday Dare, said on the platform X that “130 pupils abducted in Niger State have been released, and no one remains in captivity,” adding a photo showing smiling children.

In late November, hundreds of pupils and staff members were abducted from Saint Mary’s Catholic co-educational boarding school in Niger State, located in the north-central part of the country.

The attack came at a time when the country is experiencing a wave of mass abductions that recalls the kidnapping of schoolgirls by the terrorist group Boko Haram in Chibok in 2014.

The West African country faces multiple security challenges, ranging from the threat posed by terrorist groups in the north-east to armed gangs operating in the north-west.

A United Nations source told Agence France-Presse that “the remaining group of secondary schoolgirls will be transferred on Monday to Minna,” the capital of Niger State.

The exact number of those abducted is not known with certainty, but the Christian Association of Nigeria had announced that 315 students and staff members were kidnapped.

Around 50 of them managed to escape immediately, and on 7 December the government secured the release of 100 abductees.

It is believed that 165 people were still being held captive. However, a statement from President Bola Tinubu at the time indicated that the number of remaining hostages stood at only 115.