According to available reports, the student was abducted by armed bandits while travelling along the Kaduna–Jos highway
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Joint security operatives were, however, said to have rescued three of the abducted victims.
The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Dr. Nasir Muazu, stated this in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The abduction occurred around 2 a.m. on Sunday at St. John’s Catholic Church, Ojije, in Utonkon district of Ado Local Government Area, local sources said on Monday.
A credible source in the local government who spoke with journalists on condition of anonymity confirmed the development in an interview on Wednesday morning.
Reports said the bandits arrived in the afternoon and remained there perpetrating their nefarious act until around after 4pm.
The Niger State Police Command confirmed the development, saying the incident occurred on Sunday at Mai-Laka village
The command’s spokesperson, Udeme Edet, confirmed the incident in a statement issued on Friday, saying the suspects were neutralised by operatives of Operation Zenda Joint Task Force while repelling an armed attack.
It described the move as dangerous, unjust, and a grave betrayal of victims of banditry across frontline LGAs of the state.
A statement issued on Sunday in Kano by the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, 3 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Maj. Zubairu Babatunde, said the bandits launched the attacks on the night of Thursday extending into the early hours of Friday.
The duo clarified that the explosion was caused by a fire outbreak involving gas cylinders.
The Director, Public Relations and Information, NAF, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, in a statement on Monday, said the airstrikes were conducted on Sunday following a credible multi-source intelligence.
The bandit, arrested with cash, firearms and another colleague, Shehu Mohammadu, was picked up on December 19, 2025.
A credible source in the army told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the planned operation kicked off on Wednesday.
The lawmakers, under the coalition “House to the Rescue,” said the government’s engagement with kidnappers, disclosed by President Bola Tinubu’s aide, Bayo Onanuga, amounted to a betrayal of Nigerians and undermined national security.
This was as the bandits demanded N100 ransom for each of those abducted, whose number was put at not less than 30.
A video of the attack, pulled from a live stream, shows the worshippers, led by a young pastor, conducting a service when the gunmen unleashed mayhem in the house of God.
It was also learnt that the bandits killed the school’s vice principal, Malam Hassan Yakubu Makuku, while trying to protect students from the attackers.
According to a statement issued by the church to newsmen, the attack by the bandits occurred in the early hours of October 28, 2025.
Spokesman of the Command and a Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP Mansir Hassan, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria.