LAGOS: Armed kidnappers attacked three schools in southern Nigeria on Friday, killing an assistant headmaster and abducting an unknown number of students, in a rare attack in the country’s south.

Gunmen simultaneously raided Baptist Nursery and Primary in Yawota, and two other schools in Esiele, in the southwestern state of Oyo, police spokesman Olayinka Alayande said.

Nigeria is battling a scourge of criminal gangs known as bandits who kidnap for ransom and target rural areas. But most attacks, including school kidnappings, have mostly happened in the north and centre of the country, where the conflict is most prominent.

It was unclear who was responsible for the Oyo attacks, with the police referring to the gunmen as “armed hoodlums”. The attackers seized “some students and staff members” from the schools, “including the vice principal”, Alayande said in a statement, adding that the authorities have since launched a manhunt for the kidnappers.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2026