Borno: 78 schoolchildren and their teacher held captive for 140 days, families write to Tinubu

One hundred and forty days. That is how long 78 schoolchildren and one teacher from Borno State, in northeastern Nigeria, have spent in the hands of their captors, according to the count provided by families during a press conference held on October 29, 2026, in Abuja and reported by Daily Trust and This Day.

The abductions took place in two separate incidents. On May 16, 2026, according to Daily Trust, or May 15 according to This Day, 42 students were taken from the Mussa primary and secondary school in the Askira/Uba local government area by men described by Daily Trust as "suspected Boko Haram terrorists." On June 29, in the middle of the National Examinations Council (NECO) exam period, 36 students and one teacher were abducted from the Government Day Secondary School in Lassa, in the same area.

"Where are our children?"

As spokesperson for the Margi community, Malla Gadzama summarized the families' wait with three questions, as reported by Daily Trust: where are the children, how are they surviving, and when will they return home? The parents are calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to mobilize security and intelligence services, and on the Governor of Borno, Babagana Zulum, to make their rescue a priority.

The account the families give of their efforts speaks to the depth of the administrative silence. According to This Day, they received assurances from the Borno State government that the children would be returned, but they are still waiting. They have written to the National Security Adviser without receiving a response, and their attempts to be received by the Senate President and other National Assembly officials have failed. They say they do not know if the head of state has even been informed of the case.

Frank Kudla, a member of the community, claims that the kidnappers have communicated with the government, but never directly with the families. "We have asked the government to settle this quickly so that our children can be released," he told This Day.

What the families are demanding

Beyond their release, the community is calling for clear coordination between state and federal authorities, a designated point of contact for the families, regular updates, and, upon the children's return, psychosocial support, medical care, and educational assistance. They are also demanding strengthened security around vulnerable schools and are urging journalists not to publish anything that would put the captives in danger.

Askira/Uba is one of the areas where schools have become a target. In a country that has one of the youngest populations on the continent, every month of captivity is a month of schooling lost for 78 children whose names do not appear in any official statement. As for the families, they continue to ask for one simple thing: that their children come home.