100 days after Borno school abductions, families demand rescue

One hundred days after dozens of students were abducted from schools in Borno State, their families and concerned citizens have appealed to President Bola Tinubu and Governor Babagana Zulum to intensify efforts to secure their release.

The appeal was made on Friday at a press conference at the National Assembly, where community leaders expressed concern over the prolonged captivity of students and other residents abducted in Askira-Uba, Lassa, Buratai and along the Chibok-Maiduguri route.

The group said 42 pupils and students of Mussa Primary and Junior Day Secondary School in Askira-Uba Local Government Area were abducted on May 15, 2026.

On June 29, gunmen reportedly attacked Government Day Secondary School in Lassa while students were sitting for their National Examinations Council examinations and abducted 36 students.

The group also said 38 people were kidnapped along Buratai Road to Maiduguri, while several other residents had been abducted along vulnerable roads across the state.

Speaking under the theme, “Bring Our Children Home: 100 Days of Horror, Pain and Suffering Is Enough,” the families said the victims had spent 100 days away from their loved ones despite having been abducted while pursuing their education and daily activities.

“We stand before you today with broken hearts, but also with determination and an urgent demand: Bring our children home,” they said.

The families described the past 100 days as a period of “sleepless nights, tears and fear”, insisting that the victims must not be reduced to mere statistics.

They called on Tinubu, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, to make the rescue of the abducted students and other victims a national security priority.

While acknowledging the sacrifices of security personnel confronting insurgency and kidnapping, the group said the continued captivity of civilians should not become another unresolved case.

“We recognise the enormous security challenges confronting our nation. But the continued captivity of innocent children and civilians cannot be allowed to become another unresolved case,” they said.

The group also urged Governor Zulum to deploy the full weight of his office in coordinating with federal security agencies and intelligence services to facilitate the victims’ rescue.

It cited the recent rescue of abducted schoolchildren in Oyo State as evidence that sustained intelligence-led operations could yield results.

According to the group, the Oyo victims were abducted on May 15 and rescued on July 10, 56 days later.

“If it could be done in Oyo, it can be done in Borno. We are not demanding preferential treatment, but equal protection under the law,” they said.

The families demanded immediate rescue operations for the Mussa and Lassa students, victims abducted along Buratai Road and others seized along the Chibok route.

They also called for regular updates to affected families, improved security around schools and major highways, and sustained intelligence-led operations involving all relevant security agencies.

The group warned that allowing abductions to persist for months could normalise the kidnapping of schoolchildren and other civilians within Nigeria’s wider security crisis.

“We cannot allow the passage of time to reduce the urgency. Their lives matter. Their education matters. Their families matter. Their future matters,” the group said.