OAN Staff Blake Wolf
1:15 PM – Friday, November 21, 2025
Armed bandits attacked St. Mary’s Catholic boarding school on Friday in the Papiri community of Agwara, Niger State, Nigeria, at around 2 a.m. local time, abducting at least 52 schoolchildren, along with an unspecified number of staff.
However, while the majority of reports mention “52” schoolchildren being taken, other sources suggest that even more may have been taken.
This occurred despite a prior government warning to boarding schools in the area to close due to heightened threats — which the school ignored — according to surfacing reports.
Meanwhile, the international community has expressed growing outrage over the escalating violence in Nigeria, where Islamic militants have targeted both Protestant and Catholic communities. However, the identities of the most recent attackers are currently unknown, and no organization has publicly taken credit for the raid.
“Police tactical units, military components and other security agencies have moved to the scene, combing the forests with a view to rescue the abducted students,” local police wrote in a statement.
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The school educates students aged 12-17 years old.
During the attack, a school security staffer was also “badly shot,” according to the Associated Press, citing a statement released by the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora.
Following the attack, the Niger state government released a statement revealing that the “unfortunate incident comes despite prior intelligence” warning of threats, and the governor’s order to temporarily close all boarding schools in the region.
“Regrettably, St. Mary’s School proceeded to reopen and resume academic activities without notifying or seeking clearance from the State Government, thereby exposing pupils and the staff to avoidable risk,” stated Abubakar Usam, the secretary to the Niger state government.
The kidnappings follow a string of violence and kidnappings in Nigeria, including the abduction of 25 schoolgirls in the nearby Kebbi state on Monday.
Analysts say that bandits often target schools and travelers for ransom, which is especially common in northern Nigeria.
On Tuesday, rapper and singer Nicki Minaj delivered a four-minute speech at a U.S.-organized event at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, focusing on the escalating violence against Christians in Nigeria. The panel, titled “Combating Religious Violence and the Killing of Christians in Nigeria,” was hosted by U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz and featured faith leaders and victims.
“In Nigeria, Christians are being targeted, driven from their homes and killed. Churches have been burned. Families have been torn apart and entire communities live in fear constantly, simply because of how they pray,” Manaj stated.
“Sadly, this problem is not only a growing problem in Nigeria, but also in so many other countries across the world, and it demands urgent action,” she continued. “And I want to be clear, protecting Christians in Nigeria is not about taking sides or dividing people. It is about uniting humanity.”
Additionally, at the start of November, President Donald Trump threatened to send the military into Nigeria to “completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists” slaughtering Christians.
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump wrote at the time.
“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!”
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