The Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese, Bishop Bulus Yohanna, has offered new insights into the ordeal of schoolchildren kidnapped from a Catholic private school in Niger State, suggesting that the attackers were driven primarily by financial motives.
Speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme monitored by Hobnob News, Bishop Yohanna said accounts from some pupils who narrowly escaped the abduction indicate that the kidnappers were focused on obtaining ransom rather than targeting the school for religious reasons.
According to him, the escaped pupils overheard the abductors discussing their intentions. “Some of the pupils who escaped during the abduction said they heard the abductors say, ‘let us take more students so we can have more money’,” the bishop revealed.
He stressed that, based on available information, there was no evidence to suggest the incident was influenced by religious motives. Instead, the bishop described the kidnapping as part of the broader banditry and ransom-seeking operations plaguing parts of the region.
Bishop Yohanna called on security agencies to intensify efforts to ensure the safe return of the remaining abducted students and urged government authorities to strengthen measures that protect schools across vulnerable communities.
