Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
Respites has returned to some of the parents whose children were kidnapped at St. Mary’s boarding school in Niger State as no fewer than 50 out of the more than 300 kidnapped on Friday are reported to have escaped from their kidnappers net and have reunited with their families.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said this on Sunday.
The pupils escaped between Friday and Saturday and have since been reunited with their parents, CAN chairman Bulus Yohanna said in a statement.
About 253 children, including 12 staff members, are still with the kidnappers, added Yohanna, a Catholic Bishop who is also the proprietor of the school.
Recall that gunmen kidnapped students and teachers from St. Mary’s boarding school in the northwest of the country on Friday, the latest in a spate of school attacks this week that has forced the government to shut 47 colleges.
However, Pope Leo XVI during his Sunday Mass, asked for the immediate release of the children and the staff abducted, one of the worst mass kidnappings ever recorded there.
“I make a heartfelt appeal for the immediate release of the hostages,” Pope Leo said at the end of a mass in St Peter’s Square in Rome.
