Parents of students abducted from St. Mary Catholic School, Papiri, in Agwara Local Government Area, Niger State, staged a protest on Saturday, alleging government negligence in securing the release of their children and teachers.
The pupils and staff have been in captivity for eight days following the attack by armed men on November 21, which saw over 300 pupils and 12 teachers taken.
About 50 pupils escaped after two days, but the remainder remain with their captors. Over 200 parents gathered at the school to register themselves and their wards, expressing frustration that neither state nor federal representatives had visited the families since the abduction. They carried placards reading “Bring Back Our Girls,” “Our Girls and Teachers Are Still in Captivity,” and “Is Education a Crime?”
Rev. Fr. Stephen Okafor, the school’s Director of Communication, said the registration was necessary following government instructions and noted that parents travelled up to four hours to participate. Another diocesan priest, Fr. Linus Arege, confirmed that 215 parents had registered under supervision of local and diocesan officials.
Some parents criticised the government for initially denying the abduction. Joseph Dimas, whose son Julius was abducted, said, “The truth is that my child and others were abducted. The government should act and come to our aid instead of saying what is not true.” Emmanuel Ejeh, whose son Mathias was also taken, noted that past graduates of the school had never experienced such an attack.
The Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese, Most Rev. Bulus Yohanna, expressed hope that registration would facilitate the safe return of the remaining victims. “It is eight days now since their abduction; we have not heard anything yet. We are still very hopeful of their return, and we are prayerful,” he said, adding that the school serves over 50 communities and that collecting parental information had required significant effort.
The school’s Principal, Rev. Sis. Felicia Gyam, and Headmistress, Blessing Amodu, described ongoing distress over the incident. Gyam emphasised that there had been no prior warning of the attack, while Amodu appealed for all stakeholders to assist in rescuing the children and staff.
Meanwhile, in Madrid, Spain, Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Nigerian embassy in Madrid on Saturday to express concern over recent attacks and kidnappings of schoolchildren in Nigeria. The protest followed the abduction of more than 250 students from a Catholic school in northern Nigeria last week.
Christiana Wariboko, president of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, called for international intervention.
“We’re standing on behalf of Christians, representing Nigerian Christians,” she said. “Please intervene and do something as it regards the killings of Nigerian Christians.”
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