Fifty schoolchildren have escaped from kidnappers who seized 303 students from a Catholic school in north-central Nigeria, while 38 church worshippers abducted in a separate attack have been freed, authorities have said, as Nigeria faces mounting pressure to rescue more than 250 children still in captivity.
The students, aged 10 to 18, fled individually between Friday and Saturday from their captors, according to the Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Niger state and proprietor of the school. A total of 253 schoolchildren and 12 teachers remain in the hands of the kidnappers.
“We were able to ascertain this when we decided to contact and visit some parents,” Yohanna said in a statement Sunday.
The escapes came as Pope Leo XIV called for the immediate release of the remaining hostages, underscoring international concern over Nigeria’s deepening security crisis. The mass abduction from the school in Niger state has become one of the largest kidnappings targeting educational institutions in recent years.
In a separate development, Nigerian authorities announced that 38 worshippers seized during a deadly church attack in central Kwara state have regained their freedom. Gunmen had stormed the Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku town on Tuesday, killing two people and taking others hostage in an attack that shocked the nation.
Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq confirmed the release in a statement, while President Bola Tinubu attributed the worshippers’ freedom to “the efforts of security agencies” without providing further details about whether a ransom was paid or if military operations secured their release.
The twin developments have intensified scrutiny of Nigeria’s response to a wave of mass kidnappings that has terrorised communities across the country. Rights activist Aisha Yesufu, co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls movement, expressed dismay at the scale of the crisis.
“My first reaction was that I was numb and so heartbroken. This is something that we should all have rallied together as a nation and say, ‘never will anyone touch our children, and we will not go after them,'” Yesufu said.
The escape of the 50 students marks a small victory in what remains a massive search operation. With 265 people still unaccounted for—including the schoolchildren, teachers, and any church members who may not have been freed—Nigerian security forces face urgent pressure to locate and rescue the hostages.
The kidnappings reflect a broader pattern of violence that has plagued Nigeria in recent years, with armed groups increasingly targeting schools, churches, and communities for ransom. The attacks have raised questions about the government’s ability to protect civilians and secure educational institutions.
As families of the escaped children celebrated their return, hundreds of other parents remained in anguish over the fate of their loved ones, uncertain when—or if—they will see them again.
