Nigerian bishop reports deaths of parents of abducted children

President Bola Tinubu declared a nationwide security emergency in response to attacks in November and ordered the army and police to recruit thousands of additional personnel.

Two parents of children abducted during a raid on a Catholic school in northern Nigeria have died since the attack.

According to a statement from the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna of Kontagora, whose diocese includes St Mary’s School in Papiri, in the Kontagora area of Niger State, a father died of a heart attack while a mother also died in uncertain circumstances.

More than 300 children were abducted from the school on 21 November, though 50 of the children reportedly escaped a day later.

Anthony Musa, the father of three St Mary’s pupils, suffered a heart attack caused by the stress of the abduction, according to Bishop Yohanna. He said the diocese learned of the other death during visit to families but had not been able to confirm details. 

President Bola Tinubu declared a nationwide security emergency in response to the attack and ordered the army and police to recruit thousands of additional personnel.

The 73-year-old president said the police would hire 20,000 more officers, raising their strength to 50,000, and authorised the use of National Youth Service Corps camps as training centres.  

He also told the police to withdraw officers from bodyguard duties for redeployment to conflict zones after urgent retraining. He gave the Department of State Services approval to deploy trained forest guards and recruit more staff to flush out armed groups hiding in forests.

“This is a national emergency, and we are responding by deploying more boots on the ground, especially in security-challenged areas,” Tinubu said in a statement Wednesday, adding there would be “no more hiding places for agents of evil”.

The announcement follows recent attacks in Kebbi, Borno, Zamfara, Niger, Yobe and Kwara states, where dozens of civilians have been killed and kidnapped. In one week at the end of November, armed groups kidnapped 24 Muslim schoolgirls in Kebbi State, 38 worshippers in Kwara State, 13 young women and girls walking near a farm, and another 10 women and children, besides those taken from St Mary’s.

Tinubu commended security forces for rescuing the abductees in Kebbi and Kwara. He vowed to free the 265 children and their teachers. On Monday, his national security adviser told the school authorities they were safe “and will be back soon”.

“The children are where they are and will come back safely,” said Nuhu Ribadu, according to a spokesman for the Diocese of Kontagora.

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