Nigerian authorities on Sunday announced the release of 130 schoolchildren and staff who had been abducted by gunmen from a Catholic boarding school last month, bringing to a close one of the country's largest mass kidnappings of the year.

"The remaining 130 schoolchildren abducted by terrorists have now been released. They are expected to arrive in Minna on Monday and rejoin their parents for the Christmas celebration," presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga said in a post on X.

Onanuga said the release "followed a military-intelligence driven operation."

Sunday Dare, another spokesperson for President Bola Tinubu, confirmed the news and said no children remain in captivity following the release.

"Another 130 Abducted Niger State Pupils Released, None Left In Captivity," Dare wrote on X, accompanying the post with a photo of smiling children.

Niger State police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun confirmed in a statement that "the remaining batch of the abducted students" had been released. When asked about the accounting of all those abducted, Abiodun told the Associated Press that "further details will be communicated."

Details of the abduction

Gunmen attacked St. Mary's Catholic School in the rural hamlet of Papiri, Niger state, on November 21, seizing students and staff in the early morning hours. The school is a co-educational boarding facility operated by the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora.

The exact number of people abducted has been disputed throughout the ordeal. The Christian Association of Nigeria said 315 students and staff were kidnapped. Other accounts put the figure at 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers.

Approximately 50 children managed to escape immediately after the attack. On December 7, Nigerian authorities secured the release of around 100 more.

With Sunday's announcement that 130 additional captives have been freed, the total number released stands at 230, according to Onanuga.

A United Nations source told Agence France-Presse that all those taken appeared to have been released, explaining that dozens initially thought to have been kidnapped had actually managed to run off during the attack and make their way home on their own.

The accounting has been complicated because the children's homes are scattered across rural Nigeria, sometimes requiring three or four hours of travel by motorbike to reach their remote villages, the source said.

"We'll have to still do final verification," Daniel Atori, a spokesman for the Christian Association of Nigeria in Niger state, told AFP.

It has not been made public who seized the children from the school or how the government secured their release. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Local residents have blamed armed gangs, known locally as "bandits," that frequently target schools and travelers in kidnappings for ransom across Nigeria's conflict-affected northern regions.

Nigerian authorities typically do not disclose details about rescue efforts, and arrests in such cases are rare. Analysts believe ransoms are usually paid, though officials do not acknowledge such payments.

Nigeria's kidnapping crisis

The West African nation of 230 million people has grappled for years with armed groups that raid villages and abduct people for ransom, particularly in the northwest.

The country's kidnapping crisis has intensified in recent months, with Nigeria's Punch newspaper reporting in early December that some 490 people had been abducted in a two-week period.

On December 2, Defense Minister Badaru Abubakar resigned amid the spate of abductions.

Nigeria's kidnap-for-ransom crisis has "consolidated into a structured, profit-seeking industry" that raised approximately $1.66 million between July 2024 and June 2025, according to a recent report by SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based consultancy.

The country suffers from multiple interlinked security concerns. Armed "bandit" gangs operate primarily in the northwest, while jihadist groups including Boko Haram and its offshoots remain active in the northeast.

The St. Mary's attack drew comparisons to the 2014 kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from their boarding school in the northeastern town of Chibok by Boko Haram militants. That mass abduction sparked international outrage and the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Some of those girls remain missing more than a decade later.

Wave of recent mass abductions

The Niger state attack was among a spate of mass abductions that struck Nigeria in November, putting an uncomfortable spotlight on the country's security situation.

Four days before the St. Mary's attack, gunmen seized 25 schoolchildren in similar circumstances in neighboring Kebbi state's Maga town. Those schoolgirls were released on November 25.

Around the same time, assailants attacked a church in southern Kwara state, kidnapping 38 worshippers. Those captives were subsequently freed.

Also in November, armed men kidnapped a bride and her bridesmaids during a night raid in Sokoto state. Separate attacks targeted Muslim schoolgirls, male farm workers, and other civilians across the country.

International pressure and diplomatic tensions

The kidnappings have coincided with a diplomatic offensive from the United States, where President Donald Trump has alleged that mass killings of Christians in Nigeria amount to a "genocide" and has threatened military intervention.

The Nigerian government and independent analysts reject that characterization, which has long been used by the Christian right in the United States and Europe.

Nigeria's conflicts have affected both Christians and Muslims. The country is religiously diverse, with roughly equal populations of Christians concentrated in the south and Muslims concentrated in the north.

The St. Mary's abduction, which targeted a Catholic school, added fuel to the debate over whether Nigeria's security crisis has a religious dimension.

Nigerian officials have pushed back against Trump's framing. The government has emphasized that kidnapping gangs target victims regardless of religion, operating primarily for financial gain rather than ideological purposes.

The release of the St. Mary's students comes as Tinubu's government faces mounting criticism over its inability to stem the tide of kidnappings. With the freed children expected to arrive in Minna on Monday, families are preparing to reunite with their children ahead of Christmas—though questions remain about how the government secured their release and whether similar attacks can be prevented in the future.