In Nigeria, anguish turns to anger for parents of kidnapped children

5/12/2025 16:01

Two weeks after one of Nigeria's worst school kidnappings, parents of the more than 250 missing children are desperate for news and dismayed at what they see as the slow response from authorities.



Sunday Gbazali, a farmer and father of 12 whose 14-year-old son was among those seized on November 21 in a remote village of northern Nigeria, said he barely sleeps and his wife constantly cries thinking about their boy.



"They (the police) are just telling us to exercise patience, that they are trying to rescue the children."



"We are not happy with what is happening," he said.



The Christian Association of Nigeria said 303 children and 12 school staff were kidnapped by gunmen at St Mary's Catholic boarding school in Papiri, a hamlet in the state of Niger.



Fifty pupils managed to escape in the following hours, but since then there has been no news on the whereabouts or conditions of the other children, some as young as six, and the missing school staff.



The school was guarded by unarmed volunteer guards, who fled when attackers arrived.