Particle.news
Download on the App Store
8 ARTICLES
·
last wk.

100 Papiri Students Reunited After Mass Abduction, Many Still Held

Officials have withheld how the releases were secured, fueling confusion over the remaining captives.

Freed students of St. Mary's Catholic School wait to be reunited with their parents in Papiri community, Nigeria, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Afolabi Sotunde)
Onyeka Chieme, right, a student of St. Mary's Catholic School, who was abducted by gunmen and later released, checks a mobile phone in his house in Papiri, Nigeria, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Afolabi Sotunde)
People react after seeing recently freed students of St. Mary's Catholic School in Papiri community, Nigeria, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Afolabi Sotunde)
Rescued schoolchildren from St. Mary's School arrive at the Niger State Government House after being freed from captivity following their abduction by gunmen, in Minna, Nigeria, December 8, 2025. REUTERS/Marvellous Durowaiye

Overview

  • More than 300 pupils and 12 staff were seized from St. Mary's Catholic School in Papiri on Nov. 21 in one of Nigeria's largest recent school kidnappings.
  • About 100 children were handed to Niger state authorities, given medical checks and psychological support, and then reunited with their families.
  • Conflicting counts persist on those still unaccounted for, with President Bola Tinubu citing 115 students and the Christian Association of Nigeria reporting 153 students plus 12 teachers.
  • Fifty children escaped soon after the raid, and no group has claimed responsibility as analysts attribute such attacks to ransom-seeking armed gangs.
  • Amnesty International says 20,468 schools across seven states have closed since the Papiri abduction, underscoring a wider education crisis linked to years of mass kidnappings.