Families of pupils abducted from Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State have appealed to the Federal Government to intensify efforts to secure the release of their children, saying they feel abandoned two months after the incident.
The appeal follows the recent rescue of teachers and pupils abducted from three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State. Both the Borno and Oyo abductions occurred on May 15, 2026.
More than 40 pupils and teachers, including children as young as two years old, were kidnapped during the attack on the Mussa school. No group has claimed responsibility, and families say they have received no information about the victims’ whereabouts since the incident.
Chairman of the parents’ committee, Ishaku Suya, said the only official visit after the abduction came from the Borno State Commissioner for Education, who assured them that efforts were underway to rescue the victims.
“Since then, we have not heard anything again. We were happy that the Oyo pupils and teachers were rescued, but our own children have been forgotten,” he said, urging the Federal Government to show the same commitment in rescuing the Borno victims.
Other parents described the uncertainty over their children’s fate as traumatic, lamenting that the silence surrounding the abduction has deepened their anguish. They said they feel neglected despite the government’s constitutional responsibility to protect all citizens.
Meanwhile, a coalition of youths and students staged a peaceful protest in Maiduguri, calling on the Federal Government to deploy every available resource to rescue the abducted children from Mussa, Lassa and other affected communities.
The convener of the protest, Suleiman Muhammed, commended security agencies for the successful rescue operation in Oyo but urged authorities to replicate the same determination in Borno.
Another protester, Muhammed Mustapha, questioned why the Borno victims had received far less national attention despite being abducted on the same day as the Oyo schoolchildren.
The demonstrators also called for improved support for security agencies, better equipment for troops fighting insurgency, job creation for youths, and a firm stance against ransom payments, warning that paying kidnappers only encourages further abductions.