Pope Demands Immediate Release Of Abducted Niger Students, Others

POPE Leo XIV, on Sunday, November 23, called for the release of over 300 hostages taken from the St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools, Papiri in the Agwara Local Council of Niger State.
Recall that gunmen, traveling on over 60 motorcycles and accompanied by a van, stormed the school and anducted about 315 students on Friday morning, November 21.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Saturday, November 22, said gunmen had kidnapped over 300 students and teachers in the attack.
At the end of the Angelus prayer, the Cathilic Pontiff stated: “I learned with immense sadness, news of the kidnappings of priests, faithful and students in Nigeria and Cameroun.
“I make a heartfelt appeal for the immediate release of the hostages and express deep sorrow, especially for the many young boys and girls kidnapped and for their anguished families.
“Let us pray for these brothers and sisters of ours and that churches and schools may always and everywhere remain places of safety and hope.”
A handout photo, taken by Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Niger State and Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese showed empty bunk beds and scattered belongings inside a student dormitory at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Agwarra local government, Niger state.
Giving an update on the St. Mary’s Schools’ kidnapping on Saturday, Yohanna gave the number of victims as 315, contrary to the 227 earlier reported.
He gave the update after a verification exercise and a final census was carried out said a breakdown of newly released data showed that 303 students and 12 teachers were affected.
“After we left the school at Papiri, we decided to make calls, do a verification exercise and do further enquiries on those we had thought escaped successfully, only to discover that 88 more students were also captured after they tried to escape.
“Our attention was drawn to when some parents whose children we had thought escaped from the attack also came asking about their children. We became curious, and that was when we did a census and discovered that they were abducted.
“This now makes it 303 students (male and female), including 12 teachers (4 females and 8 males), bringing the total number of abducted persons to 315.”
He said the total of pupils and students before the incident was 629, with primary having 430 and the secondary having 199 students.