For 109 Days, Borno Parents Have Been Waiting for Their Children To Come Home
Forty-four children who were abducted from a school in Borno State have now spent 109 days in captivity. Their parents are still demanding answers, but has Nigeria already moved on?
On May 15, 2026, armed attackers stormed Mussa Central Primary School in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State and abducted dozens of children.
Now, more than three months later, they are still missing. Initial reports put the number of abducted children at around 42. Later on, official figures put them at 44.
As of today, Tuesday, September 1, the children have now spent 109 days in captivity.
Mussa is a community in Askira-Uba, an area of Borno State that has experienced years of attacks by insurgent groups.
In May, unknown gunmen attacked the community’s school and took dozens of children. Since then, their families have been waiting for answers: where are they? Who is holding them? When will they return home?
The Mussa community is also close to the Sambisa Forest, a large area that has long been associated with Boko Haram and other insurgent groups.
That difficult security environment may explain why the rescue operation is complicated. But after 109 days, Nigerians still don’t know exactly where the children are being held or how close security agencies are to bringing them home.
What Nigerians have mostly received are assurances that rescue efforts are ongoing.
It’s impossible for the families of the children to put this behind them. On August 20, parents protested in Uba, demanding more action from the government. The following day, families and community leaders took their demands to the National Assembly in Abuja, marking 100 days since the children disappeared.
On August 21, Borno Governor Babagana Zulum met with the parents in Maiduguri and said the Federal Government and Borno State Government were working to secure the children’s release.
But there is a difference between saying that efforts are ongoing and showing families that those efforts are actually getting somewhere.
Nigeria has seen other abduction cases this year raise public interest for weeks.
In Oyo State, the abduction of pupils and teachers from schools in Oriire became a major national story. Families, journalists, politicians and Nigerians kept talking about it until the victims were eventually released after 56 days.
The abduction of 15 NYSC members travelling through Kogi on August 26 also generated widespread public attention, with families taking to social media and news organisations providing regular updates as security agencies worked to locate the victims.
In all of these cases, public attention have played crucial roles; When families are speaking, journalists are reporting and Nigerians are asking questions every day, it becomes much harder for a crisis like this to quietly disappear from the public eye.
And while this may seem effective for the most part, it shows a pattern that should worry us all: that the government does not move with urgency around abductions unless Nigerians breathe down its neck. This should not be so.
For the families of the Mussa children, this is not a story that ended when it disappeared from people’s timelines.
Every day that passes is another day their children are away from home and away from school, with no idea where they are or what condition they are in.
Nigeria is getting used to this pattern, where a kidnapping becomes national news, outrage follows, politicians make promises, and eventually, another crisis takes over people’s attention.
The Mussa children have now spent 109 days away from home. The question is whether the government is doing enough to bring them home.
What do you think about this?
Drop your opinion in the comment section.
FOLLOW US & Share this with someone who needs to see this.
