All 24 schoolgirls kidnapped by armed robbers from a school in Nigeria’s Kebbi state last week have been rescued, the country’s president announced on Tuesday.
Gunmen with “sophisticated weapons” kidnapped the girls at around 4 a.m. on November 17, police said at the time, and in a statement Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu was quoted as saying all 24 kidnapped students had been rescued.
“I am relieved that all 24 girls have been found,” the statement quoted Tinubu as saying. “Now we must urgently take more action in vulnerable areas to prevent further kidnapping incidents.”
No details have been released about the rescue mission or the group that kidnapped the girls.
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Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu delivers a national address on the occasion of ‘October 1 Independence Day’ in Abuja, Nigeria on October 1, 2025. (Nigerian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The attack in Kebbi was part of a wave of recent mass kidnappings in Nigeria.
A woman looks on as she walks past a classroom at the Shehu Kangiwa Model Primary School in Argungu, Kebbi State, northern Nigeria, on April 12, 2025. (Leslie Fauvel/AFP via Getty Images)
Attackers stormed a Catholic school in north-central Niger state on Friday and kidnapped more than 300 students and staff.
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School officials said Sunday that 50 students, ages 10 to 18, escaped individually between Friday and Saturday. A total of 253 students and 12 teachers were still detained, they said.
This photo released by the Christian Association of Nigeria shows the dormitories of St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School after gunmen kidnapped children and staff in the Papiri community in Nigeria, Friday, November 21, 2025. (Christian Association of Nigeria via AP)
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Nigeria has seen a series of attacks on Christians and their institutions, instigated by the president Donald Trump to declare the West African nation a ‘country of special interest’. However, the Nigerian government has disputed the US claims.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
