President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria confirmed in a statement released on Wednesday, November 26th, that 24 girls kidnapped from their boarding school last week have now been released.
While the circumstances of their escape remain unclear, the attack may have triggered copycat kidnappings in neighbouring states. This specific incident saw armed men storm a girls’ boarding school in Kebbi State on November 17th, killing two staff members and abducting 25 students, one of whom escaped almost immediately.
The kidnapping crisis forced President Tinubu to cancel his trip to the G20 summit in South Africa. He has since deployed additional security forces and ordered the Air Force to intensify surveillance over remote regions as Nigeria confronts one of its most severe security emergencies in years.
Pope Leo XIV has warned that Christians in Nigeria face recurring attacks, naming the country among global hotspots of religious violence. His appeal follows a new wave of abductions and deadly raids across northern and central Nigeria.
In Kaduna State, armed groups recently seized a Catholic priest, an evangelical pastor, and 23 parishioners, killing five people in overnight assaults on multiple villages. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said the pattern amounts to “genocide,” urging the government and international community to act urgently.
The United Nations echoed these concerns on November 25th, expressing alarm at rising mass kidnappings. UN human rights officials urged Nigerian authorities to “halt such vile attacks” and conduct “prompt, impartial and effective investigations.”
More than 1,500 children have been abducted from Nigerian schools since 2014. Recently at least 300 students and staff were taken from a Catholic boarding school in Niger State; CAN says over 250 remain missing.
International voices are increasingly joining the chorus of concern. Former UK prime minister and UN education envoy Gordon Brown also urged global action, insisting schools must be protected as safe spaces.
Unusually for a modern celebrity, events in Nigeria prompted the rapper Nicki Minaj to call out Christian persecution. At aU.S.-hosted event she publicly supported President Donald Trump’s claim that Christians are under attack in Nigeria, saying
In Nigeria, Christians are being targeted… Churches have been burned, families have been torn apart.
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