Bandits Put Gun In My Daughter’s Mouth – Niger Catholic School Teacher

A teacher with St Mary Catholic school Papiri in Agwara local government area of Niger, Martha Mathias, has recounted how the bravery of her daughter saved her from being abducted with the rest of the staff and children from the school.

Mathias said one of the bandits pointed a gun to her daughter’s head and later inserted it in her mouth to deter her from following her (Martha) and the husband already tied up by the bandits.

The teacher added that upon seeing the bravery of the girl, the leader of the bandits instructed his boys to leave her and her daughter.

Mathias, as a teacher in the primary section of the school, resides in the school compound.

Recounting her experience, she recalled that “It was around 1am that we heard the cry of children calling for help, I was about to go out when my husband said I should lay down  and wait for him to check and he came back to say they were Bandits.

“When they finished gathering the children they now asked the children where are your parents , the children told them that they don’t have parents here they are in school,” he stated further.

Narrating her ordeal further Mathias said “They now say where are your teachers and they now pointed at the rooms they now started with the matron, they went to her room and then to our room, they now tied my husband’s hands and carried him away.”

According to her, “Later they came back saying that I should come out. When I was about to come out my child started crying, then I said they should allow me to see her.

“So when I am about following them my daughter started crying that she will follow daddy and mummy, they pointed gun at her but she insisted that she must follow us, in the process they said they should leave us , that was how they  left us  and took my husband with them” she declared.

Also narrating her ordeal, Reverend Sister Felicia Gyam, recalled that about some minutes after midnight, they heard the sound of many motorcycles and cars around the compound of the school and suddenly they started hearing knocks randomly on the gates of the school while the children were crying for help.

The reverend sister said they immediately took some children into hiding inside the school and fortunately the bandits could not get to some of them.

She said, “We were confused looking for the key to the other gates, we heard knocks and cries from the other children, they came with many motorcycles, so what we did was to ensure that we found a way to make the children who were not in danger, taken to a safe place.

“We could hear the security Man running and saying something we could not hear clearly, they later  drove off,” the reverend sister said.