Fresh details have emerged about how gunmen mobilised a helicopter, vehicles and motorcycles to carry out the mass abduction of pupils and teachers from St Mary’s Private Catholic School in Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State. The attack, now more than a week old, saw hundreds of children seized in what officials describe as one of the largest school kidnappings recorded in the region in recent years.
According to school authorities, the assault began with the unmistakable sound of a helicopter circling overhead, moments before armed men stormed the grounds. The school’s principal, Felicia Gyang, and head teacher, Blessing Amodu, said the attackers used waiting vehicles and motorcycles to ferry pupils out of the compound with alarming speed, adding that no security personnel arrived as the operation unfolded.
Reports say, some of the attackers spoke openly about abducting the children in order to secure financial gain. “They should abduct the children so that they can have money,” one of the teachers recalled hearing during the assault.
More than a week on, no armed group has claimed responsibility for the abduction, and no ransom demand has yet been communicated to the school, families or local officials. The lack of contact has deepened anxiety among relatives, who say they have received no credible information about the location or condition of the pupils and the 12 members of staff taken.
On Monday, parents and relatives gathered at the school to protest what they described as government inaction and inadequate security protection. The demonstration coincided with an exercise led by Niger State authorities to record the names of missing pupils and staff. Officials said 215 parents and guardians had been formally documented, although some families insisted the actual number of abducted children remained higher.
The journey from Minna, the state capital, to Papiri is lengthy and difficult, and the school compound was filled with wailing, prayers and demands for urgent intervention. Mothers collapsed in tears while fathers appealed to officials for quicker action. Many relatives said they felt abandoned by the authorities and expressed frustration that no visible search-and-rescue operation was underway.
Some parents who lost more than one child in the attack were too distraught to speak in detail. Among them was 35-year-old Samson Najajah, whose 15-year-old son was abducted. Najajah described his own ordeal as a kidnap victim in 2021, saying the gunmen who captured him refused to accept naira payments and instead demanded ransom in West African CFA francs. “I can only imagine what the children are going through,” he said.
Teachers also described narrow escapes. One staff member, Martha Mathias, said her five-year-old daughter inadvertently saved her from being taken by clinging to her during the chaos, preventing the gunmen from dragging her away. Her husband, however, was seized alongside the students.
The Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese and proprietor of the school, Most Reverend Bulus Yohanna, urged families to remain hopeful. He said he believed the abducted pupils and teachers would eventually be rescued, though the authorities have yet to outline a clear plan or timeline for their return.