Nigeria Launches Round-the-Clock Hunt After 25 Girls Kidnapped in Kebbi School Raid

Security forces in northwestern Nigeria have stepped up operations to recover 25 schoolgirls who were abducted during a pre-dawn raid on their school in Kebbi State.

Police say armed men on motorcycles arrived at the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga town at about 04:00 local time on Monday. The attackers exchanged fire with police, scaled the perimeter fence and took the students. The school's vice-principal was killed in the assault.

Search and military response

Authorities launched searches of nearby woodlands where criminal gangs often hide and deployed personnel along major roads leading away from the area to intercept any movement. Nigeria's chief of army staff, Lieutenant-General Waidi Shaibu, visited troops in Kebbi and ordered "intelligence-driven operations and relentless day-and-night pursuit of the abductors," urging forces to "leave no stone unturned."

"We must find these children. Act decisively and professionally on all intelligence. Success is not optional," Shaibu told soldiers during his visit.

Context and wider concerns

Monday's abduction is the second large-scale school seizure in Kebbi in four years. In June 2021 more than 100 students and staff were taken from a government college in the state; those captives were released in batches over two years after ransoms were paid, and some returned having been forced into marriage.

Kidnapping of schoolchildren has been a persistent national problem: at least 1,500 students have been abducted in Nigeria since 2014, when Boko Haram seized 276 girls from a school in Chibok. In March 2024, over 130 schoolchildren were recovered after more than two weeks in captivity in Kaduna State.

Political reaction

Kebbi State police said the recently abducted children are all Muslim. The attack has also prompted contentious reactions abroad: some U.S. political figures have framed the incident as part of a pattern of attacks on Christians. Republican Representative Riley Moore posted on X that the raid "occurred in a Christian enclave in Northern Nigeria," and former U.S. President Donald Trump has made inflammatory remarks about intervening in Nigeria.

Nigerian officials reject characterizations that cast the violence as exclusively directed at one faith, saying the country's security crises have resulted in high casualties among Muslims and other civilians.

The investigation and rescue effort remain ongoing. Local and federal authorities continue to gather intelligence and pursue leads as communities await news of the missing students.