(OSV News) -- Reeling from the Nov. 21 kidnapping of more than 250 kids and teachers from a Catholic school in central Nigeria, Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna of Kontagora said trauma, helplessness and confusion had gripped Papiri, the remote area in the state of Niger.
As of Nov. 26, 265 people -- including 253 children and 12 teachers -- were still in captivity, as the diocese continued to gather more information regarding the missing persons. Earlier reports indicated that over 300 children were in the hands of the captors, but 50 of them managed to escape and, on Nov. 22-23, they were reunited with their families.
"The people in the area are traumatized, they feel helpless and confused," Bishop Yohanna told OSV News in a telephone interview on Nov. 25. "But they are hopeful. They are even encouraging us," he said as the government mounted a military-led search and rescue operation.
"Our attention is still on how to rescue those in captivity for now," the bishop said.
The gunmen, on motorcycles and vehicles, descended on St. Mary's School in Papiri in the early morning hours, abducting the children who were between the ages of 10 and 18. The children had retired into a normal night, but were woken up by the commotion as the attack unfolded.
The Diocese of Kontagora owns the school, but the Ireland-linked Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles manage the institution. The Catholic boarding school is the largest in the Papiri locality, according to local sources, and most people in the north prefer sending their children to mission schools because they offer the best education.
By the time of the attack, the school had a total population of 430 primary school children, of which 377 were boarders and 53 were day pupils. The secondary school wing had 185 boarders and 14 day students.
Sister Mary Barron, the superior general of the order, said in a BBC interview that the situation was horrific and that, for some families, all their children had been taken away.
"Families will send all their children to the school because they don't have an option," she said.
Joseph Godfery Gyawo, a resident of Niger State, in an online interview, described to OSV News the pain, anguish and uncertainty that is gripping the area, as the parents and teachers await the return of their kidnapped children.
"As regards the children's kidnapping, most of the parents are traumatized, the whole community is very devastated because these children are in nursery and primary school. You can imagine five-year-olds in the hands of these people. The school is Catholic, so most of the children are Catholic," said Gyawo.
A parent named Antony died after learning that his three children in nursery school had been kidnapped, Rev. John Hayab, the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Northern Region, said, as reported by the Punch newspaper.
Earlier, he told Arise TV that the pain and trauma of the parents "are still very fresh. We tried speaking to the parents today, and they were scared of speaking to us," Rev. Hayab said Nov. 25.
During the Nov. 23 Angelus prayer, Pope Leo XIV appealed for the release of the children and teachers abducted in the most populous African country.
He said he was "deeply saddened to learn of the kidnapping," mentioning not only Nigeria, but also Cameroon, where six Catholic priests and a layman from the Archdiocese of Bamenda were kidnapped in Ndop.
A Nov. 23 press release signed by Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda explains that attackers identifying themselves as separatist fighters abducted Father John Berinyuy Tatah and his assistant at the locality of Baba 1 on Nov. 15 as they returned from the inauguration Mass of the PAX University Institute in Ndop.
Four priests and one lay person who went to negotiate the release of the priests were also taken Nov. 18, but released four days later. Father Berinyuy, however, has remained in captivity.
Archbishop Nkea declared that the church will not pay the ransom, setting a Nov. 26 deadline for the captors to free the priest.
When the deadline passes, all Catholic institutions, including parishes and schools, in the Ndop region will be closed and all religious personnel will withdraw, Archbishop Nkea said, explaining that the church cannot guarantee the security of priests in that area.
The archbishop also made a blunt promise: if by Nov. 28 Father Berinyuy is still in captivity, the archbishop, along with "all the priests, religious and members of Christ's lay faithful of the Archdiocese will go down to Baba 1 (neighborhood) and march to the place where Father John is being held, and either bring him back home, or remain there until he is released," Archbishop Nkea stated.
"The frequent kidnapping of our priests and mission personnel has pushed us to the wall and we say that this should stop with immediate effect," the archbishop added.
"We think these people need to live in tranquility and peace," he said.
Cameroon's two English-speaking regions have been gripped by separatist violence since 2017, when the government took a hard line following strikes by Anglophone teachers and lawyers.
A leading Cameroonian priest and intellectual, Father Humphrey Tatah Mbuy, told OSV News that attacking church leaders in the name of the ongoing separatist struggle in Cameroon completely delegitimizes what is otherwise a justifiable struggle.
"If the kidnappers call themselves separatist fighters, then what was originally a very straightforward, beautiful, and good case to be presented anywhere on the planet has been completely taken over by people who don't even understand what they are doing," he said.
"You cannot say you are fighting for people and at the same time torture and kill them. It makes no sense," Father Mbuy added.
