Masked gunmen stormed a Catholic school in western Nigeria Nov. 21 and abducted more than 300 students and staff.
The abductions came less than a week after two other high-profile attacks. In the first, 25 students were abducted from a government-run secondary school for girls in northwestern Nigeria. In the second, gunmen in central Nigeria attacked a church during a worship service, killing two and abducting 38 worshippers.
According to news reports, 50 of the students from the Catholic school have since escaped their captors, leaving 265 children and 12 staff members still in captivity. In the church attack, government officials announced that the 38 worshippers were released on Sunday.
The state government credited Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and security agencies for the release. Tinubu had decided not to attend a G20 meeting in South Africa in order to respond to the attacks. For years, the inaction of the Nigerian government has been a growing concern as attacks against Christian majority communities and churches have continued largely unhindered.
Since 2009 the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has recommended that Nigeria be designated a “Country of Particular Concern” for “engaging in and tolerating particularly severe religious freedom violations.” In 2020, during the first Trump administration, the State Department gave Nigeria that designation, but the Biden administration reversed it the following year.
Christian advocacy groups such as Open Doors International say that Nigeria is one of the deadliest countries in the world for Christians. In analyzing trends in its 2025 World Watch List, the organization noted that although killings of Christians declined last year, Nigeria “remains disproportionately deadly for Christians.”
The continuing violence has led the U.S. State Department to once again designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern. In announcing the move, President Donald Trump said Nov. 1 that if the Nigerian government fails to crack down on the killing of Christians, the U.S. military will be prepared to take military action to wipe out the Islamic terrorists committing the atrocities.
“USCIRF applauds President Trump for speaking out on the religious freedom crisis in Nigeria and making Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern,” said USCIRF Chair Vicky Hartzler. “The US Government can now develop a tough plan with Nigeria to ensure that perpetrators of violence are held to account, people of faith are protected, and those held hostage are rescued.”
