Amid Helicopter Mystery, Clashing Figures and Parent Frustration
By Luka Binniyat and Mike Odeh James
(Kaduna) Anxiety hardened into fury on Saturday as hundreds of frightened parents and residents poured into the dusty forecourt of St. Mary Catholic Church, Papiri—an isolated Christian-majority town perched barely half a mile from the northeastern shoreline of Kainji Lake.
School administrators say that after approximately 265 students and staff of St. Mary’s School are somewhere in the forest after a late-night abduction on Nov. 21. About 50 of the students broke free from the kidnappers during the trek into the forest and returned to the school safely. Yet no ransom demands have been reported by worried parents who gathered at the school gates Sunday, Nov 30 to learn what they could about their loved ones.
At the church gates a motley crowd of parents of the over 253 schoolchildren abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic School on the night of 21 November 2025, as well as families of the 12 missing staff. Television footage monitored by our correspondents in Kaduna from African Independent Television (AIT) captured scenes of raw anguish: women rolling on the ground, men beating their chests, and large groups carrying placards condemning what they described as government indifference to the fate of the abducted.
Are Federal Authorities Negotiating a Ransom?
National Security Advisor Nuhu Ribadu has hinted that he may have insider contact with the abductors at a publicized meeting with school authorities on Dec. 1. The students “are doing fine and will be back soon,” Ribadu said, according to Sahara Reporters.
Ribadu did not say that he was in communication with the kidnappers, which may be the Al Qaeda terrorist group known as JNIM, or a criminal gang, according to some security experts. Ribadu appeared calm and confident appearing with the Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese, Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, parents of the victims, and officials of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) at St. Michael’s Catholic Cathedral, Kontagora. Although Nigeria’s Federal Government prohibits officials to pay ransoms for groups of abducted students, “there is always a ransom paid,” according to David Otto, a defense consultant with the Nigerian Army.
On Dec. 2, 2025 38 church worshippers in Eruku, Kwara State, were returned to their families after being abducted during a church worship service on Nov. 17. Authorities did not mention that ransom was paid, although it was assumed, according to security experts speaking to TruthNigeria.
Based on ransoms paid for hostages held in holding camps in Southern Kaduna, TruthNigeria analysts estimate that a group ransom the Nigerian authorities would have to pay for 265 captives would range between $400,000 to $800,000 in Nigerian currency.
The town sits within the wider Kainji Lake axis bordering the sprawling Kainji National Park, one of northern Nigeria’s most dangerous sanctuaries for bandit factions, kidnap-for-ransom gangs, and splinter extremist cells taking advantage of its dense forests and near-impenetrable waterways.
But amid the grief, a chilling revelation from the school’s principal injected a new layer of alarm—one pointing to the unsettling possibility of a far more sophisticated operation than initially assumed.
‘We heard a helicopter hovering’ — Principal narrates terrifying night
Reverend Sister Felicia Gyang, principal of St. Mary’s Catholic School, told AIT’s Zakari Omale that the attack began with violent banging on the gates and the terrified screams of children. The gunmen, she said, spoke in Hausa and boasted excitedly that they were about to “make money.”
“We were awake until around after 4 a.m. when we heard a kind of helicopter hovering round,” she said.
“We were afraid about who was in the helicopter. They could probably be bandits—we didn’t know.”
Even more disturbing, she added, was that the sound of the helicopter came around the same time they heard cars and motorcycles roaring away suggesting that multiple vehicles, not just foot movement, were used for the mass abduction.
“It hovered for about 30 minutes. At a time, we didn’t hear its sound again.
We couldn’t tell how many cars and bikes were there. They sounded so many and so overwhelming that we couldn’t tell the numbers,” said sister Gyang.
Her testimony directly contradicts early reports that the abductors marched the children into the bush on foot. Instead, the developing picture hints at a coordinated, multi-vehicle operation—possibly assisted or monitored by an unidentified helicopter.
No group has claimed responsibility. Security experts say the modus operandi resembles recent mass abductions in Kebbi and Kwara—operations linked to criminal “bandit” networks rather than ideological jihadist groups. But since no one has made any contact, the culprits remain a subject of guess.
Two Parents Die of Trauma
The Catholic Diocese of Kontagora has confirmed that two parents of children abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic School Papiri in Niger State have died in the aftermath of the mass kidnapping.
According to the diocese’s Bishop, Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, a father — named Anthony Musa — who had three children among those abducted, passed away from a heart attack, “triggered by the distress” over their disappearance. The second parent, a woman whose name has not yet been released, also died; her cause of death remains unclear, as the church has been unable to reach her family after the unfortunate information.
For now, the facts are brutally simple: hundreds of families still do not know where their children are. There has been no contact from the abductors. No list is final. And every disputed number represents a child whose life is hanging on uncertainty.
Luka Binniyat and Mike Odeh James write for TruthNigeria from Kaduna.
