The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has put the total number of victims abducted by suspected terrorists from the St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools, Papiri in the Agwarra local government area of Niger state, at 315 as against 227 earlier reported.
CAN’s Niger state chapter chairman, Most. Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, who is also the Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese, gave the update after a verification exercise and a final census was carried out.
According to him, 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”, he said.
He said 303 students (male and female), including 12 teachers (4 females and 8 males), were abducted, bringing the total number to 315, adding they the total of pupils and students before the incident was 629, with primary having 430 and the secondary having 199 students.
Addressing the widely reported notion that there were intelligence reports before the abduction, and that the school was given a prior warning by the government through a circular, Yohanna said it was all “propaganda”, and maintained that no circular was received to that effect, saying, “it must be an afterthought and a way to shift blame”.
He recalled that in the past, around 2022, when rumours were heard of a security challenge, “we did not hesitate; we shut down immediately. Is it when there is a circular from the government asking us to shut down that we will now not obey?”
“We have asked the Education Secretary if he received a circular, he said no; or if he was asked to send any to us, he said no. We asked if he was verbally informed, and he also said no. Let them tell the world who they gave the circular to, or through what channel they sent it”.
The cleric said enquiries were also made to National Association of Private Schools, which said they did not get any such circular. “They claimed the school was shut down and reopened a few days ago, which is also not true. We are law-abiding”, he said.
He called on everyone to remain calm and prayerful, while assuring that “we will continue to actively collaborate with security operatives, community leaders, government, and relevant authorities for the safe and quick return of all abductees”.
