50 Children Flee, More Than 250 Held, After Mass Abduction at Nigerian Catholic School

Fifty children escaped after armed men abducted more than 300 students and teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State. Hundreds remain missing as security forces intensify rescue operations.

Written By Elle Higgins // EEW Magazine Online

A signboard for St Mary's Private Catholic Secondary School stands at the entrance of the school in Papiri, Agwarra local government, Niger state, on November 23, 2025. (Photo by Ifeanyi Immanuel Bakwenye / AFP via Getty Images)

In a harrowing incident that has shaken the global Christian community, armed gunmen stormed St. Mary’s Catholic School in the remote Papiri community of Niger State, Nigeria, abducting hundreds of students and staff in the early hours of Friday, Nov. 21, 2025.

EEW Magazine confirms, according to Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were taken during the pre-dawn raid on the Catholic boarding school, one of the largest school abductions Nigeria has seen in more than a decade.

A pair of shoes is seen inside a student dormitory at St. Mary's Catholic School in Papiri, Agwarra local government, Niger state, on November 23, 2025. (Photo by Ifeanyi Immanuel Bakwenye / AFP via Getty Images)

Yet amid the darkness, there is a glimmer of hope. Church leaders report that 50 of the abducted students escaped between Friday and Saturday and have been reunited with their families.

Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of CAN in Niger State and a Catholic bishop who serves as proprietor of the school, confirmed the escape in a statement after visiting the campus and meeting with parents. He said the children slipped away from their captors over the course of two days and made their way back home, while urging Christians to continue praying for those still held.

The ordeal began around 2 a.m. local time, when heavily armed men described by authorities as “bandits” entered the school compound under cover of darkness, moving through dormitories while children slept.

Open lockers and scattered personal belongings are seen inside a dormitory in Papiri, Agwarra local government, Niger state, on November 23, 2025. (Photo by Ifeanyi Immanuel Bakwenye / AFP via Getty Images)

In total, 253 children and 12 staff members remain missing, believed to have been taken into nearby forests and bush paths that armed gangs use as hideouts. Security forces, local hunters, and vigilantes are combing the surrounding area in an expanded search-and-rescue operation.

Niger State officials say the school reopened its boarding facilities despite earlier security advisories that called for temporary closure in high-risk zones, a claim CAN disputes, accusing the government of trying to shift blame instead of confronting the scale of the crisis.

According to a statement posted on the official Facebook page of Nigeria Police Force, the Commissioner of Police Niger State Command, CP Adamu Abdullahi Elleman, reiterated the Command's commitment to rescue the students unhurt, and appealed to members of the public to remain calm and support security operations to rescue the students.

In response to the attack, authorities in Niger shut all schools indefinitely, and the federal government ordered dozens of boarding schools in vulnerable northern states to close as well.

The kidnapping in Papiri is part of a wider wave of violence that has convulsed Nigeria in recent days. Just four days earlier, 25 mostly Muslim schoolgirls were abducted from a government boarding school in Maga, Kebbi State, and a staff member was killed. In another attack, 38 worshippers were kidnapped from Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku, Kwara State; they were later freed, although at least two people were killed in the assault.

A general view of a classroom at St. Mary's Catholic School in Papiri, Agwarra local government, Niger state, on November 23, 2025. (Photo by Ifeanyi Immanuel Bakwenye / AFP via Getty Images)

Over the weekend, suspected Boko Haram or ISWAP militants also abducted around 13 young girls working on farms in Borno State, with at least one victim managing to escape as security forces launched a search for the others.

In the face of mounting criticism over insecurity, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered the recruitment of at least 30,000 additional police officers and directed that roughly 100,000 police previously assigned to protect politicians and other VIPs be redeployed to regular policing duties, especially in under-served rural areas.

He has also suspended foreign travel, including attendance at the G20 summit in South Africa, so he can oversee the national response to recent kidnappings and the church attack.

From Rome, Pope Leo XIV spoke directly to the crisis, saying he was “deeply saddened” by the mass abduction at St. Mary’s and making a heartfelt appeal for the immediate release of all hostages.

The tragedy has reignited global debate about religious persecution and insecurity in Nigeria. Some high-profile voices in the United States, including President Donald Trump, have framed the violence as part of a campaign of “Christian genocide” and have even threatened military intervention.

Nigerian officials and many analysts counter that armed groups target both Muslims and Christians, driven by a mix of ransom profits, local power struggles, and conflicts between herders and farmers, rather than religion alone.

Even so, the pattern is painfully familiar for many Christians. The 2014 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping, in which 276 girls were seized by Boko Haram from a school in Borno State, galvanized worldwide prayer and protest under the #BringBackOurGirls banner. More than a decade later, over 80 of those girls are still missing, a reminder of how long families can be left waiting.

Since Chibok, at least 1,500 schoolchildren have been abducted in mass kidnappings across Nigeria, according to tallies by rights groups and news agencies, and some reports now place that number even higher. By sheer numbers, the attack on St. Mary’s ranks among the worst school kidnappings on record in the country, with more than 300 students and staff taken and only a fraction returned so far.

For believers around the world, the crisis is both a call to prayer and an urgent summons to action. Nigerian church leaders are asking Christians to intercede for the safe return of every child and teacher, for comfort for grieving families, and for courage and wisdom for those on the front lines of rescue and advocacy.

Organizations such as the Christian Association of Nigeria, Catholic dioceses in Niger State, and international faith-based partners continue to press for stronger protections for schools and churches, and they rely on global support, both spiritual and practical, to do so.