Nigerian Parents Say They Are Kept In The Dark Over Abducted Schoolchildren
HuffPost
“Nobody from the government has briefed us about the abduction,” one parent said.
PAPIRI, Nigeria (AP) — Several parents of the over 300 schoolchildren seized by armed men in the latest mass abduction in Nigeria tell The Associated Press the government has told them nothing about rescue efforts and the stress has been so high that one parent has died of a heart attack.
“Nobody from the government has briefed us about the abduction,” said Emmanuel Ejeh, whose 12-year-old son was taken from the Catholic school in Niger state.
Meanwhile, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said Wednesday in a statement that he has declared a nationwide security emergency and ordered additional recruitment into the army and police.
No armed group has claimed responsibility for Friday’s abduction of 303 children from the remote community of Papiri, the latest in a series of high-profile seizures in search of ransom. Fifty of the students have since escaped.
The rise in mass abductions from schools comes as the Trump administration pressures Nigeria to act against what it calls the persecution of Christians there — a claim Nigeria’s government denies. Such abductions had decreased in the past two years.
