This handout photo taken by Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) of Niger state chapter and Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese on November 21, 2025 and distributed on November 22, 2025 shows empty bunk beds and scattered belongings inside a student dormitory at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Agwarra local government, Niger state. BULUS DAUWA YOHANNA / AFP
A Christian group on Saturday, November 22, said 315 students and teachers were seized a day earlier in Nigeria's second mass school abduction in a week, as security fears mounted in Africa's most populous nation. The early Friday raid on St Mary's co-education school in Niger state in central Nigeria came after gunmen on Monday stormed a secondary school in neighboring Kebbi state, abducting 25 girls.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said the new number came "after a verification exercise" following the early Friday mass kidnapping, and added that "The total number of victims abducted ... is now 303 students and 12 teachers." The number of boys and girls kidnapped from St Mary's is almost half of the school's student population of 629.
The Nigerian government has not commented on the number of students and teachers abducted. Authorities in the nearby states of Katsina and Plateau have meanwhile ordered all schools to close as a precautionary measure. The Niger state government closed many schools and President Bola Tinubu canceled international engagements, including attending the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to handle the crisis.
