Overview
- Gunmen stormed the Government Girls' Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi, around 4 a.m. Monday, killing a staff member, wounding another, and abducting students after scaling the fence and exchanging fire with guards.
- Police say 25 girls were taken in the pre‑dawn assault and confirm one abducted student has escaped, leaving 24 still unaccounted for as of Wednesday.
- No group has claimed responsibility, with officials and analysts attributing such raids in northwest Nigeria to criminal bandit networks that kidnap for ransom rather than to jihadi factions.
- Police tactical units, soldiers, local vigilantes and hunters are combing nearby forests and escape routes, following directives from President Bola Tinubu and the army chief for day‑and‑night, intelligence‑driven pursuit.
- The abduction fits a yearslong pattern of school kidnappings since the 2014 Chibok case, with at least 1,500 students seized nationwide and a previous mass abduction in Kebbi in 2021 that saw releases after ransom payments.