Niger: After Protest, Diocese Begins Registering Parents Of Abducted Students

The Catholic Diocese of Kontogora has given reasons for embarking on the registration of Parents of the 265 children abducted from St. Mary’s Private Catholic primary and secondary school, Papiri Agwarra local government area of Niger state.

The registration came on the heels of the protest of the parents over the weekend in Papiri that the government was not doing enough to ensure the rescue of their children.

Explaining why the Diocese embarked on the registration, the Diocesan Director of Communication, Rev. Fr. Stephen Okafor, said, “the exercise became very important as the government had requested it”.

“With this registration and the number of parents who have turned up, we do hope those negative speculations will end. Some of these parents had to travel between 3 and 4 hours to get here,” he said.

Apparently referring to the government’s claim that the children were not up to 265, as claimed by the church, which is the school’s owner, the Director of Communication of the Diocese said the government would be convinced that the figures were not fabricated.

Also supporting the church’s position, another Priest, Fr. Linus Arege, stated that the registration, which began last Monday, has already registered 215 parents and guardians, noting that it was duly supervised and signed by a representative of the Agwarra LGA and the Diocese.

The Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese and Proprietor of the school, Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, hoped that with the registration, the abductees would regain their freedom very soon.

He said, “It is eight days now since their abduction, we have not heard anything yet. We are still very hopeful of their return, and we are prayerful”.

He disclosed that the school was serving over 50 communities within and outside Agwarra LGA and that to get the parents to come forth to register their names as directed by Governor Umaru Bago “was not an easy task, as most of them had to travel on motorcycles, riding between 3 to 4 hours.”

The Principal of the school, Rev. Sis Felicia Gyam, said there was no directive from any authority for them to close down the school, saying “there was nothing like that, whoever says so should bring proof of evidence. Neither was there a circular nor a verbal notification”.

The sobbing headmistress told Journalists that “from the day of the incident, I have been devastated and yet to overcome the shock, I am very disturbed that the children, up till now, are not back yet. All I am pleading for at this moment is for the government, all concerned parties, and everyone touched by this to please help us find ways to rescue these children and bring the staff back to us. That is all I am pleading for, nothing more than that”.

Meanwhile, at the weekend, the parents converged on the school at Papiri to protest for the release of their children, claiming that the government has not shown them enough empathy.
The parents carried placards with various inscriptions such as ‘Bring Back Our Girls’, ‘Our Girls and

Teachers are still in captivity’, ‘We need security in Agwarra’, ‘Is education a Crime’ to draw the attention of the authorities to their plights.

A parent, Dimas Joseph Mauhuta, whose son, Julius Dimas (JSS 2), is among those abducted, expressed dismay that the government was implying that their children were not abducted.

He said, “The truth is that my child and others were abducted. The government should act and come to our aid instead of saying what is not true.”

Also speaking was another parent, Emmanuel Ejeh, whose son, Mathias, was abducted. He said that two of his other children had graduated from the school, and the school had never experienced such an attack in the past.

It would be recalled that 12 teachers, 303 pupils and students of the School were abducted on Friday, the 21st of November this year, while 50 were able to regain freedom from the Bandits; 265 of them were still being held in captivity by them.