Escape from hell. 50 students regained their freedom

Fifty of the more than three hundred students abducted on Friday by armed bandits from a Catholic school in Papiri, Niger State, managed to escape and safely return to their homes, school authorities announced on Sunday.

The students, aged 10 to 18, fled between Friday and Saturday, said Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Niger State and the school's owner. According to his statement, the kidnappers are still holding 253 students and 12 teachers.

The students and teachers were kidnapped by armed bandits who attacked the Catholic school St. Mary's in the town of Papiri in north-central Niger State. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, and authorities said troops supported by local hunters were sent to help the children.

Fifty of the 315 children kidnapped by gunmen from a Catholic school in Nigeria's Niger State on Friday have escaped and are believed to have been reunited with their families. https://t.co/gIV8TSmAR8 pic.twitter.com/6vldrrGPSR

— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) November 23, 2025

On Sunday, 38 people kidnapped by bandits from a church in Eruku, Kwara State, also regained freedom in Nigeriaas announced by the state's governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazak, to the media. The details of the liberation are not known – in the statement issued, the governor only informed that it was possible thanks to the “practical approach of President Bola Tinubu, who personally led the efforts to release the abductees.”

The fate of 25 students kidnapped on Tuesday in neighboring Kebbi state, in the town of Maga, is still unknown. Both Niger and Kebbi states are located in the northern region of Nigeria, where armed gangs kidnap people for ransom, making it a profitable business.

Since the most famous kidnapping of 275 schoolgirls from Chibok School by Boko Haram in 2014, over 2,000 have been kidnapped in Nigeria so far. students, according to documented data disseminated by Amnesty International.

From Monrovia Tadeusz Brzozowski (PAP)

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