Paul Ibe, media aide to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has questioned the circumstances surrounding the abduction and release of pupils from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Papiri, Niger State.
He suggested that the government’s announcement carries the tone of a staged affair.
Ibe spoke on Sunday after confirmation that the final batch of 130 abducted pupils had regained their freedom, bringing to a close one of Nigeria’s largest recent mass school kidnappings.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he criticised the manner in which the announcement was delivered by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
“Bayo Onanuga @aonanuga1956, the way you are announcing the release—or is it the recovery—of the remaining students of St. Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, makes it sound as if the whole kidnap episode was arrangee. With the Bola Tinubu administration, nothing is impossible. #StateCapture,” Ibe wrote.
The abduction took place in the early hours of 21 November, when armed men on motorcycles stormed the boarding school in Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area, moving from dormitory to dormitory before taking scores of pupils into the surrounding forests.
The latest group of freed children arrived in Minna, the Niger State capital, on Sunday, joining earlier batches released in phases over the past month.
Around 50 pupils were reported to have escaped during the attack, while security agencies secured the release of another 100 on 8 December, leaving the remaining 130 in captivity until the latest development.
The newly rescued pupils were received at the Niger State Government House by Governor Mohammed Bago, alongside senior officials and security operatives.
Confirming the release, the Bishop of the Kontagora Diocese and proprietor of the school, Most Rev Bulus Yohanna, said Governor Bago had personally telephoned him to deliver the good news.