A rare piece of excellent news from Nigeria, just days before Christmas, is that every one remaining students and teachers abducted by militants from St Mary’s Catholic School in Niger state last month have been released.
In total 218 students and 12 teachers were kidnapped throughout the 21 November attack. Earlier reports placed the variety of abductees at over 300, nonetheless this was as a consequence of parents of youngsters who had escaped not notifying the authorities.
A Nigerian presidential aide announced that a “military-intelligence driven operation” had led to the discharge of the prisoners. No further details have been made available, like whether any ransoms or terms were agreed to secure the discharge, or whether any of the militants have been captured or killed.
Anti-Christian violence in Nigeria led the country’s president to last month declare a state of emergency and a rapid beefing up of the safety forces.
Christmas is usually a particularly dangerous time for Nigeria’s Christians. In 2023 a whole bunch were killed in coordinated attacks in what became often known as the Christmas Eve massacres. Earlier this 12 months Catholic bishop Wilfred Anagbe warned that massacres during Christian festivals were becoming “customary” in parts of the country.
Throughout December quite a lot of attacks have already taken place. At least 20 people have been killed and an identical number abducted in a minimum of six different locations.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), which is working with people on the bottom, welcomed the discharge of the Catholic school pupils.
Scot Bower, the group’s CEO, welcomed the end result but called for more security to guard Christians over the festive season, and continued efforts to secure the liberty of other kidnapping victims.
“CSW is relieved that each pupil and teacher who was abducted from St Mary’s Catholic School in Niger state has been released unharmed; nonetheless, we remain concerned by the plight of the abducted ECWA church members in Kogi, who include very young children, and of members of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Ejiba Town, also in Kogi State, who’ve been held in forests for nearly three weeks,” he said.
“CSW echoes the appeal for relevant State and Federal authorities to redouble efforts to secure their freedom, and the discharge of others in every state who remain within the hands of armed non-state actors whose activities are finally recognised as amounting to terrorism.
“We also reiterate the decision for security measures to be put in place to make sure protection for churches, Christian communities, and particularly, for vulnerable IDPs over the festive season.”
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