A father has told the BBC he felt powerless as he witnessed gunmen on motorbikes abduct dozens of children, including his son, after storming a Catholic boarding school in northern Nigeria in the early hours of Friday. The father said he was asleep when he was awoken by the noise of the gunmen as they went past his home with the children they had seized from St Mary's school in Papiri village in Niger state. They [the children] were being trafficked on foot the way shepherds control their herds. Some children were falling and the men would kick them and instruct them to stand up. The gunmen were on about 50 motorcycle bikes while controlling them, said the father, whose name we have changed to Theo for his safety. Speaking to the BBC in the dormitory where his son used to sleep, Theo said he was in no position to stop the abduction. I felt like going [to help] but I thought better of it. Even if I did go, what could I do? I couldn't do anything, he told the BBC, adding that he called the police but it was too late by the time they arrived.

The Christian Association of Nigeria has said that 303 students and 12 members of staff were taken from the school, but that 50 of the children managed to escape and have been reunited with their families. The governor of Niger state, Umar Bago, denied the high number of abductions, stating it was far, far below 303 and blamed the school authorities for opening the establishment despite previous threats from gunmen. This incident is part of a troubling trend in Nigeria, with the northern region becoming a hotspot for kidnappings, often for ransom. Parents are expressing frustration at the government's response, feeling abandoned and unheard as they search for their missing children.