Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
The Christian Association of Nigeria, Borno State chapter, has called for the urgent rescue of 78 abducted schoolchildren and other victims who have spent more than 100 days in captivity across the state, describing their continued detention as a responsibility that rests on the shoulders of government and security agencies and insisting that their release is long overdue.
The state CAN Chairman, Most Reverend John Bakeni, made the call on Sunday at a prayer session organised to mark “CAN at 50” in Maiduguri, the state capital. Bakeni said the spate of abductions in the state necessitated what he described as a “CAN at 50 sober celebration,” stressing that many residents were caught between economic hardship and insecurity. “How do you celebrate when your children are in captivity, when your brothers and sisters are in captivity, when so many communities are being attacked and challenged by insecurity, and when economic hardship is biting hard?” he asked.
The CAN chairman said the association was employing the instrument of advocacy to reach out to concerned authorities as a constant reminder of the plight of the victims. “In terms of the steps we will be taking, CAN is more of an advocacy group and we have reached out to our leaders both at the national level and state level to do whatever they can to see that our brothers and sisters who are in captivity are set free,” he said. “These kids have spent over 100 days in captivity. You can imagine what their parents are going through. And the pain, agony, trauma that these people are going through.”
Bakeni called on the government and security agencies to intensify action towards the immediate rescue of all victims in captivity. “We are using this medium to call on the government, both at the national and state level, all security agencies, and all those who matter in this effort of liberating our children to do whatever they can,” he said. “It is a responsibility that rests on their shoulders, so let them do something to rescue them because it is long overdue.”
The call comes amid growing anguish among the families of the abducted children. The 78 abductees comprise 42 pupils taken from Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School on May 15, 2026, and 36 students and a teacher seized from Government Day Secondary School, Lassa, on June 29, 2026. Among the Mussa victims were 28 pupils taken from the primary school, four from the junior secondary school, and 10 toddlers, aged 20 months to three years, kidnapped from playgrounds near the school.
The parents of the abducted children have given the Federal Government a six-day ultimatum to rescue them or face a protest at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. The chairman of the Mussa and Lassa Parents of Abductees, Ishaku Wabba, queried why children abducted in Oyo State were quickly rescued while the Borno students 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,” he said. “We are giving you six days to rescue our children; otherwise, we will stage a big protest at the Presidential Villa gate in Abuja. It is either we are killed or we survive.”
The emotional toll on families was captured during a recent gathering in Mussa, where mothers, fathers and relatives clutched photographs of their missing children, wept openly and chanted “Save our children” under heavy rainfall. Yohanna Musa Lassa, an uncle to one of the kidnapped students, said the family had sent the children to school hoping they would become better persons and support their parents in old age. “Boko Haram has carried them away,” he said. Another parent, Musa Chinda, whose four-year-old daughter was among the victims, expressed concern over what he described as the silence of the Federal Government over the rescue of the children, lamenting that the government should have applied the tactics used in freeing the Oyo school abduction which occurred the same day.
The Borno State Government and Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, who represents Southern Borno, put the total number of the Mussa abductees at 42, including the 10 toddlers. The Lassa abduction saw 36 students and a teacher taken from the Government Secondary School. The Emir of Uba, Ali Samaila Mamza II, has appealed to the Federal, Borno State and local governments, as well as the media, to work in collaboration towards the safe return of the schoolchildren and other captives. Hon. Midala Usman Balami, member representing Askira-Uba/Hawul Federal Constituency, called on the Federal and Borno State governments to put resources and intelligence together towards rescuing the schoolchildren and to deploy more security to intensify surveillance and protection of Askira-Uba communities that are in close proximity to the Sambisa Forest.
The presidency and security agencies have not issued a direct response to CAN’s latest demand as of Sunday. However, the Federal Government had previously constituted a panel to investigate the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners in NSCDC custody, and the Nigerian military has continued operations against Boko Haram and ISWAP in the North-East. Troops of Operation HADIN KAI have rescued abductees in separate operations, including 10 final-year students and teachers abducted during an ISWAP attack on a Borno school in September 2026. The government has consistently maintained that it is working to secure the release of all captives.
The CAN chairman’s intervention reflects a broader frustration within the faith community and among civil society over the pace of rescue operations for the Borno abductees, particularly in light of the successful rescue of the Oyo schoolchildren in July 2026 after 56 days in captivity. 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, making rescue operations perilous and intelligence-gathering difficult.
For the families of the 78 abducted schoolchildren and the other captives across Borno State, the passage of each day without news deepens their anguish. The six-day ultimatum given by the parents will expire in the coming days, and if the government fails to act, the promised protest at the Presidential Villa would mark a dramatic escalation of a crisis that has already exposed deep regional disparities in the response to mass abductions. For CAN, the call for rescue is both a moral appeal and a reminder that the government’s responsibility to protect its citizens does not end at the gates of the Sambisa Forest. As Bakeni put it, the children have spent over 100 days in captivity, and their release is long overdue.
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