Niger State School Attack: 227 Students, 12 Teachers Kidnapped – CAN

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has put the number of abducted students in the Niger state school invasion at 227.

The Source reports that suspected terrorists had, early Friday morning, November 2, 2025, invaded St Mary’s Catholic School Papiri in Agwara Local Government Area of the State, kidnapping teachers and students.

However, while confirming  the incident, the Police authorities and Niger State Government insisted that the number of abductees were yet to be ascertained .

But at an interactive session with the Media late Friday, the Niger State Chairman of CAN, Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, informed that about  215 students, and 12 teachers were taken away by the invaders.

“I just returned from the community this night after my visit to the school . I met with some parents of the missing children and assured them that efforts are being made in collaboration with the Government and Security Agencies to ensure that the Children are rescued and brought back safely.

“From our record, 215 pupils and students, and teachers were abducted by the terrorists. During the attack, some students escaped, and parents have started coming to pick their children because the school has to be shutdown”, Yohanna stated

Earlier, Independent sources had estimated that about 53 students were abducted by the hoodlums.

The Niger State Government and Police authorities in their various statements had, also, blamed the refusal of the  Management of the school to obey security advisory directing the closure of schools within the area, and other security challenged Councils .

A statement from the Niger State Police Command spokesperson, W.A. Abiodun informed that the State Commissioner of Police, Adamu Abdullahi Elleman, has assured that a thorough investigation will be conducted to unravel why the school was still in session after the Government’s directive for schools to be closed .

“The Commissioner of Police, assured that this incident will be investigated, and necessary action taken against the school management for continuing academic activities contrary to the state Government’s directives on closure of schools in the area due to security challenges”, the police statement reads in part.