88 More Students Declared Missing In Catholic School Attack

The Catholic Diocese of Kontagora has announced that an additional 88 students are unaccounted for following the assault that took place at the St Mary Secondary School located in Papiri, within the Agwara Local Government Area of Niger state, which happened on Friday, November 21.

In a statement released on Saturday, November 22, the Most Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, who serves as the Catholic Bishop of the Kontagora Diocese, indicated that the overall number of missing students has now reached a total of 303 individuals.

Previously, he had reported that 215 students were unable to be located after the incident, and he also mentioned that four women and eight men who were teachers had been taken captive during the course of the invasion.

He explained that the institution consisted of 430 children in the primary division along with 199 students in the secondary level.

The Bishop refuted any suggestions of receiving advance notice from the authorities or law enforcement bodies, contrary to what was asserted by the Secretary to the State government.

“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, he also said no. Let them tell the world who they gave the circular to, or through what channel did they send it.

We also asked the National Association of Private Schools, they did not get any such circular. They claimed the school was shutdown and reopened few days ago, that is also not true, we are law abiding”, he said through his aide, Daniel Atori

It should be remembered that the government of Niger state had attributed responsibility to the school for the kidnapping event. In an official announcement that was made public, the Secretary to the State Government, whose name is Abubakar Usman, stated that based on earlier intelligence reports, the administration had directed the shutdown of every boarding school in that region, however, the impacted Catholic school chose to ignore the advisory and proceeded to resume operations.

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli