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, lamenting that they feel abandoned two months after the incident.
News Point Nigeria reports that the appeal came barely 48 hours after security forces rescued teachers and pupils abducted from three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.
The abductions in both Borno and Oyo states occurred on May 15, 2026.
More than 40 pupils and teachers, including children as young as two years old, were kidnapped from the Mussa school.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, while the affected families said they have received no communication or information regarding the whereabouts of their loved ones.
Speaking to this newspaper, the chairman of the parents’ committee, Mr Ishaku Suya, said the community had remained engulfed in grief and uncertainty since the abduction took place.
According to him, the only government official who visited the families after the incident was 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 to hear that the Oyo pupils and teachers were rescued, but our own children have been forgotten,” Suya said.
He appealed to the Federal Government to demonstrate the same commitment and urgency displayed in the Oyo rescue operation in securing the release of the abducted pupils in Borno.
“We are Nigerians too. We are asking the government to show the same commitment and urgency in rescuing our children,” he added.
One of the parents, Sale Buba, said the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the children had left families traumatised and deeply distressed.
“We do not know where our children are or the condition they are in. While efforts were made to rescue the Oyo victims, nobody seems to be talking about ours,” he said.
Another parent, Ishaku Joe, said the silence surrounding the abduction had compounded the suffering of the affected families.
“We don’t know whether they are alive, whether they are eating or what they are going through in the bush. We feel neglected,” she said.
Another parent, Mr James, also lamented that despite the government’s constitutional responsibility to protect all citizens, the families felt abandoned in their hour of need.
Meanwhile, a coalition of youths and students staged a peaceful demonstration in Maiduguri to protest the worsening security situation and demand the immediate rescue of the abducted pupils.
Carrying placards bearing different inscriptions, the protesters called on the Federal Government to deploy every available resource to rescue children abducted from Mussa, Lassa and other affected communities.
Addressing the protesters at the Post Office area of Maiduguri, the convener of the demonstration, Suleiman Muhammed, commended security agencies for rescuing the abducted pupils and teachers in Oyo State but urged the government to replicate the same efforts in Borno.
“We believe the government will not discriminate against any part of the country. The same determination used in Oyo should be applied to rescuing children still in captivity in Borno,” he said.
Muhammed also urged the government to create jobs and economic opportunities for young people as part of efforts to curb crime and insecurity.
He warned against the payment of ransom to kidnappers, arguing that such actions only embolden criminal groups and encourage further abductions.
Another protester, Muhammed Mustapha, questioned why the Borno victims had received considerably less public attention despite being abducted on the same day as the Oyo schoolchildren.
“These children were kidnapped on the same day, yet nobody is talking about those taken from Mussa or the recent Lassa school abduction. We deserve an explanation,” he said.
Mustapha further called on residents to continue supporting security agencies in the fight against insurgency and urged the government to equip troops adequately to bring an end to the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East.