Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
Parents and community members from Mussa and Lassa in Askira/Uba Local Government Area of Borno State have issued a six-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to secure the release of their abducted children or face a mass protest at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, as the victims enter their 130th day in captivity.
The ultimatum was delivered during a protest in Maiduguri on Sunday, where grieving families demanded that President Bola Tinubu intervene and rescue the children held by insurgents in the Sambisa Forest. Chairman of the Mussa Parents of Abductees, Shuibu Umaru, questioned why schoolchildren abducted in Oyo State were rescued while those from Mussa and Lassa remain in captivity. "Why did you rescue the Oyo abducted children and neglect ours? We too are Nigerians. We are citizens of this country. The President needs to do everything possible to rescue our children," Umaru said.
The children were abducted on May 15, 2026, from Mussa Central Primary School and Junior Day Secondary School, an area close to the Sambisa Forest long associated with Boko Haram. On the same day, gunmen abducted students and teachers from a school in Oyo State, a coincidence that has become the emotional fulcrum of the parents' campaign for justice. The Oyo victims were released on July 10 after spending 56 days in captivity, while the Borno children remain missing. A separate abduction saw 36 students seized from Government Day Secondary School in Lassa on June 29 while sitting for their National Examinations Council examinations.
The scale of the crisis extends beyond the school children. Dr. Midala Usman Balami, the member representing Askira/Uba and Hawul Federal Constituency, disclosed that 44 children were abducted in Mussa Ward, 36 in Lassa, and 36 travellers were taken on Buratai Road. "These children have been there for more than 130 days," Balami said. "The children of Mussa and Lassa wards have suffered for too long. They should be rescued and brought back to their families safely". He called for collaboration between the Federal and state governments, stressing that the matter concerned the lives of innocent citizens, and urged President Tinubu to fulfil his constitutional responsibility by ensuring their rescue.
Another parent, Ishaku Suya, who led the outcry in Askira Uba, issued a direct and emotional appeal to the President. "I'm making this loudest call to Mr. President that we, the parents of the abducted children of Mussa and Lassa, will take over the streets of the presidential villa if he doesn't rescue our children as he rescued the Oyo children. He should either kill us, leave us alive, or rescue our children," Suya said. Josphin Yohanna, a grieving mother, said the swift rescue of the Oyo children was clear proof that the Federal Government possesses the operational capacity to act decisively. "Why shouldn't the president extend similar urgency to our children in the northeast? We are equally Nigerians," she said.
The parents' anger is compounded by what they describe as months of government inaction and unfulfilled promises. The Whistler reported in September that a parent of one of the abducted children said, "They give us sweet talk," adding that the lack of communication from authorities forced the families to march. The protest in Maiduguri followed an earlier demonstration in August, when relatives and community leaders held a press conference at the National Assembly to mark 100 days since the abduction, appealing to Tinubu and Governor Babagana Zulum to intensify efforts.
The Borno State Government has repeatedly said it is working to secure the children's release. Governor Zulum met with parents of the abducted Mussa schoolchildren on August 21, 2026, and assured them that President Tinubu had directed security agencies to ensure their rescue. Zulum said the Federal Government, the Nigerian Armed Forces, and the Borno State Government would do everything possible to secure the children's release. The state government ordered the immediate closure of the two affected schools and moved the remaining students to safer schools in Uba town. However, the parents say the assurances have not translated into results. As of press time, the Presidency has yet to issue an official response to the six-day ultimatum.
The abductions have become a political flashpoint. In July, the African Democratic Congress challenged Tinubu to apply the same strategy used in rescuing the Oyo schoolchildren to other kidnap victims, saying the administration was behaving as though the lives of the Oyo victims were more important than other Nigerians. Northern groups, including the Arewa Consultative Forum and the Northern Elders Forum, also called on the government to replicate the Oyo rescue operation in Borno, Kaduna and Kwara states. The comparison has become a rallying cry for the Borno parents, who argue that their children have been abandoned because they live in a region long ravaged by insurgency.
The Sambisa Forest, where the children are believed to be held, is a vast expanse of bushland that has served as a stronghold for Boko Haram and its splinter groups for over a decade. Its proximity to Mussa has heightened fears about the children's safety and the ability of security forces to locate them. The Nigerian military has conducted numerous operations in the forest, but the dense terrain and the insurgents' knowledge of the area have made rescue missions perilous. The parents have rejected any suggestion of a ransom payment or a quiet settlement, insisting that the government must secure their children's release through a decisive operation. "No going back on this, we were treated like foreigners in our own country for being law abiding," another parent said.
For the families in Mussa and Lassa, the six-day ultimatum is not an idle threat. It is the culmination of more than four months of anguish, during which they have watched the Oyo children return home while their own remain in the hands of insurgents. The protest at the Presidential Villa, if it materialises, would be a dramatic escalation of a crisis that has already exposed deep regional disparities in the government's response to mass abductions. As Umaru put it, "Bring back our children; we need our children". Whether the government can meet the deadline remains to be seen, but for the parents, the wait has already been far too long.
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