Four Days Later, 51 Children Still Missing in Borno as Government Panics

Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.

As dawn broke over Mussa village in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State on Friday, May 15, 2026, young pupils had barely settled into their early morning lessons when the sound of motorcycle engines shattered the silence. Within minutes, heavily armed fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) had stormed the Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School complex, firing sporadically to disperse any resistance before rounding up terrified children and loading them onto motorcycles. Today, four days later, more than fifty of those children remain missing, and the most disturbing revelation to emerge from this latest mass abduction is that it was not a random act of terror but a calculated revenge mission in the bloody feud between two rival jihadist factions fighting for supremacy in the forests of northeastern Nigeria.

The President of the Borno South Youth Alliance, Samaila Ibrahim Kaigam, who has been in direct contact with community leaders and insurgent sources, disclosed on Tuesday, May 19, that the abduction was carried out by ISWAP fighters as retaliation for a recent confrontation with the rival Jama’atu Ahlis-Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad (JAS) faction, the group originally known as Boko Haram. According to Kaigam, JAS fighters had recently overrun several ISWAP camps in parts of southern Borno, forcing the ISWAP members to withdraw temporarily. When the ISWAP fighters returned to the area on a revenge mission, they found that their rivals had already retreated. Unable to locate the enemy they intended to confront, the fighters turned their guns on the nearest soft target, the primary school in Mussa village, and took schoolchildren instead. Kaigam confirmed that he held direct discussions with JAS leaders, who categorically denied responsibility for the kidnapping and insisted that ISWAP alone carried out the attack. He added that the abduction was not premeditated but occurred spontaneously after the retaliatory operation failed to locate its intended targets.

The exact number of children taken has been a source of confusion and anguish for families. Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, who represents Borno South, initially confirmed on Saturday, May 16, that forty-two individuals had been abducted, comprising four students from the Government Day Secondary School, twenty-eight pupils from the primary section, and ten children taken from nearby homes. However, a verified register obtained by community leaders from the Mussa Ward councillor, Peter Wabba, listed forty missing children by name, age, and family background, and subsequent community-led checks suggested that the actual number had risen to at least fifty-one, with most victims being toddlers and pupils in nursery, Primary One, and Primary Two classes. Some witnesses claimed that several of the abducted children were as young as two years old. Parents who spoke to reporters described the attackers as bypassing other parts of the village and heading directly for the school, where they chased the pupils out of their classrooms before picking the smallest children and loading them onto motorcycles.

The military has responded with force. In a coordinated operation with the United States Africa Command, fresh airstrikes were conducted on Sunday, May 17, targeting ISWAP hideouts in the Metele area of Borno State. The Defence Headquarters confirmed that more than twenty ISWAP fighters were killed in the multiple airstrikes, which followed intelligence reports confirming the movement and gathering of insurgents in the area. The military described the operation as part of sustained efforts to dismantle terrorist networks and deny insurgents any haven within Nigeria. Yet, despite these tactical gains, there has been no confirmed report of any rescued child from the Mussa abduction. Efforts to obtain operational updates from the Media Information Officer of Operation HADIN KAI, Lieutenant Colonel Sani Uba, have been unsuccessful, as his mobile phone lines remain unreachable. Similarly, the Borno State Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nahum Daso, has not responded to calls or text messages seeking information on the rescue effort.

Governor Babagana Umara Zulum has been holding a series of meetings with heads of security agencies, including the military and the police, to coordinate efforts toward the safe return of the abducted children. His spokesman, Mallam Dauda Iliya, confirmed on Monday, May 18, that the state government is working closely with security agencies and critical stakeholders to secure the release of the victims. However, four days after the abduction, no government official has yet visited Mussa village to offer sympathy or support to the traumatized community. Meanwhile, Kaigam disclosed that negotiations are ongoing for the release of some captives, including women and children from affected communities. He revealed that the insurgents have requested a list of individuals who could be considered for release, and efforts are being made to establish contact with individuals linked to ISWAP in order to obtain information about the abducted pupils and confirm that they are still alive. He expressed concern, however, that ISWAP may not publicly acknowledge the abduction or demand a ransom, describing the group as unpredictable in its operations.

The abduction has drawn widespread condemnation from political and civil society leaders. The Northern Senators Forum, in a statement issued on Monday, May 18, strongly condemned the attack and called on the Federal Government and the Joint Task Force Operation HADIN KAI to immediately intensify rescue operations. The forum warned that the nation must not allow this incident to become another prolonged tragedy like the Chibok abduction of 2014. Former presidential candidate Dr. Gbenga Hashim also condemned the abduction, describing it as a brutal assault on Nigeria’s future and warning that repeated attacks on learning institutions risk entrenching insecurity across generations. He criticized the lack of sustained global urgency regarding repeated abductions of African children and cautioned against growing international indifference, stating that the world must not become desensitized to the suffering of Nigerian schoolchildren.

For the parents of Mussa village, these statements offer little comfort. As night falls on Tuesday, May 19, they are still waiting for any news of their children, who have now spent four nights in the hands of a terrorist faction known for its brutality. Many families have already begun making plans to relocate to Askira town or other safer areas, their trust in the government’s ability to protect them shattered once again. The rivalry between ISWAP and JAS that caused this tragedy shows no sign of abating, and unless a rescue is effected soon, the children of Mussa may become yet another statistic in the long and painful history of mass abductions in northeastern Nigeria.

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