Kagara kidnapping

On 17 February 2021, at around 2–3 am, armed men raided the Government Science College in the Kagara district of Niger State, Nigeria. One school pupil was killed during the attack. The gunmen abducted 27 other pupils, three members of school staff, and 12 relatives of staff, bringing the total number of abductees to 42. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Following the raid, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the police and military to conduct a rescue operation. While the investigation was ongoing, an anonymous security official told Agence France-Presse that the attackers were believed to belong to a criminal gang. On 19 February 2021, the governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani-Bello, confirmed that state authorities were in the final stages of negotiations with the bandits for the release of the abductees.

On 21 February 2021, a military plane en route to Minna as part of efforts to rescue the 42 hostages crashed, killing all seven people on board. The chief of air staff ordered an immediate investigation into the cause of the crash.

By 24 February 2021, media reports indicated that the kidnappers were negotiating directly with parents of the abducted schoolboys over a ransom payment. A representative of the parents offered to pay a ransom of ₦2.7 million. The leader of the kidnapping group, identified in media reports as Dogo Gide, demanded the phone contacts of the parents so he could negotiate with each of them individually. The Niger State government maintained that it was continuing to pursue an unconditional release of the abductees through negotiation.

On 27 February 2021, the Niger State government announced that all 42 people who had been abducted from the Kagara school had been released by the bandits and received by state authorities.

This case is part of a wider pattern of mass school kidnappings for ransom in Nigeria during this period, including incidents referenced alongside it such as the Jangebe kidnapping, the Afaka kidnapping, and the Makurdi kidnapping.