The Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for Niger state, Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, has confirmed that 227 students and staff were abducted by gunmen at the Catholic school in Agwara Local Government Area (LGA) early Friday morning.

“Our records show that 215 pupils and students, along with 12 teachers, were taken by the abductors”, the Chairman said in a statement by his media aide, Dan Atori.

According the statement, “the CAN Chairman, Bulus Dauwa, has just returned to the village after visiting the school and meeting with parents to reassure them of the collaborative efforts with the government and security agencies to recover and safely reintegrate the kidnapped individuals”.

He said some students managed to escape during the attack, adding that “parents are now arriving at the school to retrieve their children. This has resulted in the school’s closure”.