About 100 children who were abducted from a Catholic school in central Nigeria last month have been released, authorities say.
Niger state’s police chief, Adamu Abdullahi Elleman, and Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, who is in charge of the school as the local leader of the Catholic church, both told the BBC that they had received confirmation of the students’ release.
They said the government’s Office of the National Security Adviser had informed them that the children would be reunited with their parents from Monday.
More than 250 students and 12 staff were kidnapped from St Mary’s Catholic school in Papiri, the latest in a wave of mass abductions which has sent shockwaves through the nation.
Details about the release of the 100 schoolchildren remain unclear, including whether it was secured through negotiation or by force, and whether any ransoms were paid.
The governor of neighbouring Nasarawa state, Abdullahi Sule, told local media that the federal government had played a key role in securing their release, adding that the behind-the-scenes efforts could not be disclosed for security reasons.
Last week, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu visited Papiri and met a delegation led by Bishop Yohanna, assuring them the children would soon be rescued and reunited with their families.
Schools and places of worship have increasingly been targeted in the latest wave of attacks in north and central Nigeria.
The attack on St Mary’s, on 21 November, was preceded by mass kidnappings just days earlier: on 18 November, two people were killed and 38 abducted in an attack on the Christ Apostolic Church in Kwara state, and a day before that, two were killed and 25 Muslim students abducted from Government Girls’ Secondary School in Kebbi state.
All those taken in the Kwara and Kebbi attacks have since been freed.
Last week gunmen abducted at least 20 people in two separate attacks – at a newly established church in central Kogi state, where a pastor, his wife and some worshipers were taken, and in the mostly Muslim northern Sokoto state, where a bride and her bridesmaids were among those kidnapped.
It is not clear who is behind these kidnappings – most analysts believe they are carried out by criminal gangs seeking ransom payments. However, a presidential spokesman earlier told the BBC that the government believes they are the work of jihadist groups.
The paying of ransoms has been made illegal in Nigeria in an attempt to cut the supply of funds to the kidnap gangs but it is widely believed that in many cases money is still handed over.
Nigeria’s security crisis attracted the international spotlight last month after US President Donald Trump threatened to send over troops if the government “continues to allow the killing of Christians”.
Nigerian officials and analysts say that members of all faiths are victims of the violence and kidnappings and say it is not true that Christians are being targeted.
