“None Left in Captivity”

• The Catholic Diocese of Kontagora has confirmed the safe rescue and return of all 230 students and workers abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic Colleges, Papiri, Niger Bellow, ending a month-long ordeal that started on November 21, 2025.
• Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna clarified earlier discrepancies in reported figures, explaining that dismay, delayed headcounts, and early escapes resulted in inflated initial numbers.
• The final reconciliation confirmed that all and sundry verified abductees had been reunited with their families

The Catholic Diocese of Kontagora has formally offered the safe return of every pupil and workers member abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic Colleges, Papiri, in Niger Bellow. This final affirmation marks the conclude of a harrowing month-long ordeal that started on November 21, 2025.

In a detailed reconciliation commentary, Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, the Bishop of Kontagora and proprietor of the school, verified that 230 participants had been rescued and have since been reunited with their families.

Breaking Down the Figures

The Diocese provided a clear breakdown of the rescued participants to resolve earlier conflicting stories:

• Nursery/Predominant Pupils: 204
• Secondary Students: 14
• Staff Individuals: 12
• Total Verified Abductees: 230

Addressing why initial stories advised over 300 of us had been missing, Bishop Yohanna explained that the dismay following the predawn raid resulted in famous discrepancies.

“A joint verification disclose by the verbalize govt, security agencies and college authorities later printed that no longer all oldsters had been most modern throughout the disclose… Some pupils fled into nearby bushes and didn’t correct now return for the first headcount, whereas some oldsters had been absent throughout verification.”

The Bishop clarified that of the initial 315 listed as missing:

• 50 escaped within the first forty eight hours.
• 35 had been later came upon to have by no blueprint been abducted or had escaped early and long gone straight to their properties.
• 100 had been launched on December 7.

The final 130 had been secured on December 21, bringing the verified total to 230.

The rescue became a coordinated effort nice looking the Workplace of the Nationwide Safety Adviser (ONSA), the DSS, the Armed Forces, and the Niger Bellow Executive. Bishop Yohanna described the homecoming because the “most effective Christmas reward” the church would possibly possibly presumably safe.

“A 2nd and final verification performed by the school authorities in collaboration with the Other folks-Lecturers Affiliation established that a further 35 participants had both no longer been abducted or had escaped earlier… We are deeply grateful to the Nigerian govt, the Niger Bellow govt, and all security agencies whose interventions had been instrumental in bringing this painful episode to an conclude.”

The college stays dedicated to offering counseling and healing make stronger for the affected families as they launch their recovery direction of.