Gunmen kidnap hundreds of Catholic schoolchildren in Nigeria

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Gunmen in Nigeria have abducted at least 200 Catholic schoolchildren just weeks after Donald Trump threatened to deploy the US military “guns a blazing” if attacks on Christians continued.

The kidnapping, which took place before dawn on Friday at St Mary’s School, a Catholic high school in Niger state, in the north-west of country, is the latest in a spate of attacks on Christian institutions.

Initial reports suggested that 215 pupils and 12 teachers had been abducted, but Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, the chair of the Christian Association of Nigeria, told Nigerian reporters that 88 others had been abducted, pushing the number missing to more than 300.

Chris Smith, chair of the US House foreign affairs sub-committee on Africa, said that he was appalled to hear about the assault. “Religiously motivated violence against predominantly Christian communities, as well as moderate Muslims, in Nigeria is real — and unfortunately, only getting worse,” he said.

“It would be a gross understatement and a blatant denial to refer to serious and sustained attacks against religious communities in Nigeria of this magnitude as anything but acts of religious persecution.”

Trump posted on Truth Social this month that he had asked his war department to draw up plans for possible military intervention in Nigeria. “If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!” he wrote.

Nigeria, whose 237mn population is evenly split between Christians and Muslims, has consistently denied that Christians were a target of attacks, saying that Muslims were equally vulnerable.

Abductions occur throughout Nigeria but are concentrated in the majority Muslim north where criminal gangs operate and Fulani herdsmen frequently clash with farmers over grazing rights. Some kidnappers are former herders who have taken up arms, according to experts.

A report by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics found that more than $2bn was paid in ransom by families in the year to April 2024, an upsurge that has coincided with economic reforms that have drastically lowered living standards.

Boko Haram, the Islamist group whose name means “western education is forbidden”, has also been active in the north of the country. So have other Islamist groups.

The raid on St Mary’s comes days after gunmen on Monday abducted 25 schoolgirls in neighbouring Kebbi state and another attack on a church in Kwara state, in western Nigeria.

In that incident, 38 worshippers were abducted and two were killed, according to Femi Agbabiaka, secretary of the Christ Apostolic Church, who spoke to AP. Kidnappers are demanding a ransom of N100mn ($69,000) for each person abducted, he said. No group has taken responsibility.

Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s president, suspended his trip to the G20 in South Africa to deal with the worsening situation. He said after the Kebbi state attack that he was “depressed that heartless terrorists have disrupted the education of innocent schoolgirls” and that he had directed the security agencies to “act swiftly and bring the girls back”.

Nigeria’s security forces have been blamed for their inadequate response to kidnappings and terrorist attacks. In recent weeks, the heads of the main branches of the armed forces were replaced after an alleged coup plot was uncovered, in a further sign of disarray within the security apparatus.

Tinubu said the shake-up would “further strengthen Nigeria’s national security architecture”.