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A TOTAL OF 100 of the children abducted from a Nigerian Catholic school last month have been released, the Christian Association of Nigeria has said.
At least 303 children were seized at the Niger state school together with 12 of their teachers when gunmen attacked the St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri community on 21 November.
Fifty escaped in the hours that followed and more than 100 students remain in captivity.
Daniel Atori, a spokesman for the association in Niger state, told The Associated Press that the church learned the children were released during the weekend and that they will be taken to Niger state’s capital of Minna to meet with officials.
It was not immediately clear how the 100 children were freed or if any arrests were made.
The school was founded by Cork priest Father Donall O’Cathain of the Society of African Missions, with the help of St Mary’s Secondary School in Newry, Co Down and Newry journalist Rowan Hand.
St Mary’s Papiri is under the direction and management of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles (OLA), of which Donegal nun Sr Mary T Barron is Congregational Leader.
Speaking to RTÉ, Sr Barron remarked: “I am the leader of our congregation in the world and I feel anguished and powerless to do anything.
“I can’t imagine the pain that the parents of those children in particular are feeling. Or the children whose parents have been taken, the adults who have been taken.”
She said a “large group of armed bandits arrived on motorbikes and with vans and went from dormitory to dormitory collecting the children.”
In a statement today, OLA said it “welcomes this development with deep relief and hope”.
“Any movement toward the safe return of these children is a grace, and we hold this possibility with gratitude.”
The OLA said it has been reported that a group of pupils were received by local officials in Niger State “after renewed assurances from the Nigerian Government that the safe return of the children and staff remains a national priority”.
However, the OLA further stated that “local Church leaders and some Niger State officials have noted that they have not yet received full, formal confirmation, including detailed lists of names”.
“Independent humanitarian verification has also not been made public,” it added.
No group has claimed responsibility for the abductions but locals blamed the armed gangs that target schools and travellers in kidnappings for ransoms across Nigeria’s conflict-battered north.
The Niger state attack was among a spate of recent mass abductions in Nigeria and happened four days after 25 schoolchildren were seized in similar circumstances in neighbouring Kebbi state’s Maga town.
A church in the southern Kwara state was also attacked around the same time; the 38 worshippers abducted in that attack last month have been freed.
Under pressure at home and from US President Donald Trump – who has alleged that Christians are being targeted in Nigeria’s security crisis – Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has promised he will not relent until all hostages are freed.
Nigerian authorities usually provide limited information about rescue efforts and arrests in such cases are rare.
Analysts believe that is because ransoms are usually paid. Officials do not admit to payment of ransoms.
-With additional reporting from Press Association
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