On Monday 17 November, in the early hours of the morning, a group of gunmen launched an attack on a girls’ school in Maga, Kebbi State, Nigeria. The Nigeria Police Force struck back but the abductors were able to escape, taking with them 25 students. One member of staff was killed and another injured. Local Open Doors sources have confirmed that Christian girls are among those taken.
The group of ‘bandits’, as they have been named locally, took the students to the nearby bushes and their whereabouts are currently unknown. Whilst the police and military are carrying out a search-and-rescue operation to find the girls, parents wait in agony as the hours since the attack mount.
Increasing unrest
This attack is only one of several scattered throughout the past week. Such assaults on schools and villages are not uncommon in Nigeria, particularly in the north, as a symptom of the growing unrest which has plagued the country.
Though the motives for this attack remain unclear, previous instances have shown that kidnapping is used as a political and financial tool. Christians may also receive higher ransom demands so that they are forced to sell their land or property to pay up, making them more vulnerable to future attacks or forced conversion.
Nigeria stands at number seven on the World Watch List. Brothers and sisters across the nation continue to experience the sharp end of persecution as a daily reality. Please pray for them to see justice and relief, and urgently pray for the safe and quick return of all the abducted schoolgirls.
please pray
- For the quick recovery of all those kidnapped and the empowerment of authorities
- That God would bring deep comfort and peace to their families as they wait
- For the Lord to open the eyes of the kidnappers and bring them to repentance and a holy reverence of Him.
Arise Africa Petition
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