Overview
- The Christian Association of Nigeria said gunmen took 303 pupils and 12 teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic school in Papiri after initial lower counts were revised.
- About 50 children have reached their families on their own, leaving roughly 253 pupils and 12 staff still held, according to CAN.
- A security guard was killed during the pre‑dawn assault, and no group has claimed responsibility as authorities weigh the roles of criminal bandits or Islamist militants.
- Security forces have been deployed, President Bola Tinubu canceled planned foreign trips, and several states moved to close or empty boarding schools.
- State officials say the school ignored a closure directive based on elevated risk, a claim disputed by church leaders, as the abduction follows earlier kidnappings in Kebbi and Kwara this week.