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Nigeria is grappling with a security crisis of unprecedented scale in its north-central region. On November 21, armed gunmen abducted 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niger state. This comes just four days after 25 schoolgirls were kidnapped in Kebbi state, marking over 325 victims in a single week. President Bola Tinubu has canceled his planned G20 attendance, while Defense Minister Alhaji Bello Matawalle coordinates rescue operations.

Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that Christians in Nigeria face “genocide” and threatened military intervention. His statements went viral among evangelical and right-wing groups in the U.S., prompting calls for action under the guise of protecting persecuted Christians. Fact-checks, however, show a more nuanced reality: some abducted students are Muslim, and the violence reflects systemic insecurity, banditry, and governance failures rather than targeted religious persecution.

This video explores the true causes of Nigeria’s mass abductions, separating political exaggeration from evidence, and highlighting the need for structural reforms in governance and security rather than foreign political grandstanding.


#Nigeria #Kidnappings #StMarysSchool #KebbiKidnapping #Trump #ChristianGenocide #AfricaNews

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00:00In what has become a recurring nightmare for Nigeria, a crisis of unprecedented scale is
00:11unfolding in the nation's north central region. On Friday, November 21st, armed gunmen abducted
00:18more than 303 school children and 12 teachers from St. Mary's School, a Catholic institution
00:23in the Papiri community of Niger State, storming dormitories between 1 and 3 a.m. and seizing
00:30students from their beds at gunpoint. A school security guard was shot during the assault.
00:37The initial count of 215 was revised upward to 303 students and 12 teachers after church
00:44officials conducted a verification exercise and final census on Saturday. This attack
00:52came just four days after another mass kidnapping in neighboring Kebi State, where gunmen attacked
00:58a government school in Magar Town, abducting 25 schoolgirls and killing the school's vice principal,
01:05Haseen Yakubu Makuku. Combined, over 325 students and staff have been kidnapped in just one week.
01:15President Bola Tinubu has canceled his scheduled attendance at the G20 summit in South Africa,
01:22to focus on the crisis, while Defense Minister Al-Hajji Bello Matawali has been deployed to
01:29coordinate rescue operations. However, the scale and nature of these abductions have become entangled
01:36with international political claims that deserve careful examination. Earlier this month, President
01:44Donald Trump made explosive statements about Nigeria, claiming that Christians in the country face
01:50genocide and threatening military intervention with guns a-blazing if the government continues to
01:57permit the killing of Christians.
01:58The Nigerian government continues to allow the killing of Christians. The USA will immediately stop
02:07all aid and assistance to Nigeria. We're going to do things to Nigeria that Nigeria is not going to be
02:13happy about. Trump's rhetoric went viral among right-wing and evangelical Christian groups in the United
02:20States, with some Republican figures calling for direct U.S. military action. Trump cited religious
02:27persecution in Nigeria as evidence of a systematic campaign against Christians, framing the abductions
02:34and violence as part of an organized effort to eliminate the Christian population. His statements
02:41created an international incident, with the Nigerian government issuing formal responses rejecting the
02:47genocide characterization. Republican Representative Riley Moore, citing Trump's talking points,
02:55Trump's intervention as a humanitarian intervention to protect persecuted Christians,
03:00but was later forced to publicly correct this statement after fact-checkers exposed inaccuracies in
03:06his representations. Trump's intervention elevated the issue internationally, with his supporters using
03:12his statements to justify calls for U.S. military involvement in Nigeria, framing it as a humanitarian
03:20intervention to protect persecuted Christians. The evidence presents a more complex picture than Trump's
03:29framing suggests. In the Kebby state attack that Trump cited as evidence of Christian persecution,
03:35the 25 abducted students were confirmed by state police and education officials to be Muslim girls
03:43attending a government school. This directly contradicts Trump's narrative of systematic Christian
03:49targeting in that specific incident. Regarding St. Mary's Catholic school, while it is indeed a Christian
03:57institution, and therefore represents an attack on a Christian community, the abduction cannot be
04:03characterized as part of a broader campaign of religious genocide. The Nigerian government has explicitly stated
04:11that Muslims have suffered more casualties from armed group violence than Christians in recent years.
04:17Security analysts, including Shehu Sani, a prominent Kaduna-based politician, have stated,
04:24While Christians have been targeted in some attacks, the claim of genocide is politically motivated
04:30exaggeration. Banditry affects all communities.
04:36Underlying these abductions is not religious conflict, but systemic collapse in Nigerian governance,
04:43security and accountability. While Trump's inflammatory rhetoric about Christian genocide
04:50and military intervention dominates international headlines, it distracts from the actual issue.
04:56Failed governance, poverty, corruption and inadequate security infrastructure. Real solutions require
05:04comprehensive governance reform and security sector restructuring, not political grandstanding from
05:11foreign leaders.
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