Nigeria Schoolgirl Kidnapping: One Escapee 'Terrified' As 25 Classmates Remain Missing

Security forces in northwest Nigeria are working to find the 25 schoolgirls in Kebbi who were abducted in a pre-dawn raid, as families wait for news. One escaped schoolgirl shares hope that others might still return.

Police say gunmen armed with rifles stormed Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga town, Kebbi State, at around 4 a.m. local time on Monday, arriving on motorcycles in what appeared to be a carefully planned operation.

The attackers reportedly exchanged gunfire with police before scaling the perimeter fence and seizing the students from their dormitory, killing the school's vice principal in the process.

How The '25 Girls In Kebbi' Were Taken In A Targeted Raid

According to local authorities, the 25 girls in Kebbi were abducted when the gunmen overwhelmed security after a brief shootout with officers stationed near the school.

The assailants then made their way into the compound, where they overpowered the staff and took the girls away under the cover of darkness.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, and officials say the attackers' precise motivations remain unclear.

The '25 Girls In Kebbi' And The Massive Rescue Operation

On Tuesday, security teams swept nearby forests where criminal gangs are known to hide, while other forces were deployed along major roads leading to the school in an attempt to block escape routes and spot any movement linked to the abductors.

Kebbi Governor Nasir Idris visited the school on Monday, assuring distraught parents and staff that every effort is being made to rescue the abducted studentsand bring them home safely.

Nigeria's chief of army staff, Lieutenant-General Waidi Shaibu, also travelled to Kebbi and met soldiers in the hours after the attack, ordering 'intelligence-driven operations and relentless day-and-night pursuit of the abductors,' an army statement said.

In a stark address to troops, Shaibu said: 'We must find these children. Act decisively and professionally on all intelligence. Success is not optional'.

He urged them to 'leave no stone unturned' in the hunt for the 25 girls in Kebbi, underlining the urgency and national significance of the mission.

Why The '25 Girls In Kebbi' Kidnapping Evokes A Traumatic History

Monday's raid is the second mass school abduction in Kebbi in four years, following a June 2021 incident in which bandits seized more than 100 students and staff members from another government college.

Those hostages were released in batches over nearly two years after parents raised ransoms, with some students forcibly married and returning home with babies, leaving lasting trauma on survivors and their communities.

Across Nigeria, at least 1,500 students have been kidnapped since Boko Haram fighters abducted 276 girls from their school in Chibok on 14 April 2014, an event that shocked the world and turned schoolchildren into targets for extortion and leverage.

In March 2024, more than 130 schoolchildren were rescued after spending over two weeks in captivity in Kaduna State, a reminder that some mass abduction cases can end in successful operations, even after prolonged ordeals.

One Escapee From The '25 Girls In Kebbi' Gives Families Hope

In a development offering some hope, a schoolgirl who was abducted alongside the 25 girls in Kebbi has managed to escape and is now safe, the school's principal, Musa Rabi Magaji, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The student returned home late on Monday, just hours after the kidnapping at Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Kebbi, and is said to be 'safe and sound'.

Another student, who was not among the 25 confirmed abducted, also escaped in the minutes following the attack, according to the principal.

'One is part of the 25 abducted, and the other one returned earlier,' Magaji said. 'They are safe and sound'.

How The '25 Girls In Kebbi' Case Is Being Politicised Abroad

While Kebbi State police told AFP that the abducted schoolchildren were all Muslim, supporters of US President Donald Trump have used the tragedy to bolster claims that Christians are under attack in Nigeria.

'While we don't have all the details on this horrific attack, we know that the attack occurred in a Christian enclave in Northern Nigeria', Republican Representative Riley Moore wrote on X.

Mr Trump has gone as far as threatening to invade Nigeria 'guns-a-blazing' over what some right-wing US lawmakers allege is a 'Christian genocide'.

Nigeria's government has firmly rejected the US president's remarks, arguing that the country's overlapping security crises have, in fact, left more Muslims dead than Christians.

Who Is Behind The '25 Girls In Kebbi' Kidnapping?

No group has claimed responsibility for abducting the 25 girls in Kebbi, but analysts and residents believe it could be one of several armed gangs that frequently target schools, travellers and remote villages in kidnapping-for-ransom schemes.

Authorities say many of these gunmen are former herders who have taken up arms against farming communities after years of violent clashes over land, water and other increasingly scarce resources.

Mass school kidnappings have become grimly common in northern Nigeria, where dozens of armed gangs of mostly nomadic herdsmen and, more recently, jihadist fighters operate with relative impunity.

Analysts note that schools are often singled out for high-profile attacks because abducting children draws more national and international attention than kidnappings in markets or along highways.

Security specialist Oluwole Ojewale, of the Institute for Security Studies, explained: 'Let's say people have been kidnapped in the markets — it doesn't go far, (or) if people have been kidnapped on the road — it doesn't go far. What gains traction is when it is strategic kidnapping, like school children.'

Why The '25 Girls In Kebbi' Case Exposes Deeper Security Failures

Experts and locals alike blame Nigeria's persistent insecurity on a mix of rampant corruption, under-resourced security forces and a justice system that rarely prosecutes attackers.

Corruption is said to limit weapons and equipment supplies to frontline troops, leaving them outgunned by criminal groups in remote areas.

Porous borders also allow a steady flow of arms into the country, strengthening the gangs responsible for abductions like that of the 25 girls in Kebbi and making each new rescue mission more dangerous than the last.