‘Bandits Put Gun in My Daughter’s Mouth’ – Niger Catholic School Teacher

Martha Mathias, a teacher at St. Mary Catholic School Papiri in the Agwara local government area of Niger, described how her daughter’s courage prevented her and the other staff members and students from being kidnapped.
According to Mathias, one of the bandits put a gun to her daughter’s head and then put it in her mouth to stop her from pursuing Martha and her husband, who had already been bound by the bandits.

The teacher stated that the bandits’ leader told his boys to abandon the girl and her daughter after witnessing the girl’s bravery.
Mathias lives on the school grounds and works as a primary school teacher.

“We heard the cry of children calling for help around one in the morning. I was about to go out when my husband said I should lay down and wait for him to check and he came back to say they were bandits,” she remembered.

“The kids told them they didn’t have parents here because they were in school when they were asked where their parents were after they had finished gathering the kids,” he continued.
“They now say where are your teachers and they now pointed at the rooms they now started with the matron, they went to her room and then to our room, they now tied my husband’s hands and carried him away,” Mathias continued to describe her experience.

“Later they came back saying that I should come out,” she said. My child began to wail as I was ready to leave, so I told them to let me see her.

“So when I was about to follow them, my daughter started crying that she would follow Daddy and Mummy. They pointed a gun at her, but she insisted that she must follow us. In the process, they said they should leave us, which is how they left us and took my husband with them,” she added.

Reverend Sister Felicia Gyam, who also described her experience, recalled that shortly after midnight, they heard numerous cars and motorcycles passing through the school’s grounds. Suddenly, they heard haphazard knocks on the school’s gates as the kids cried out for assistance.

Fortunately, the bandits were unable to reach some of the youngsters who were taken into hiding within the school, according to the reverend sister.

“We were confused looking for the key to the other gates, we heard knocks and cries from the other children, who came with many motorcycles, so what we did was make sure that we found a way to make sure the children who were not in danger were taken to a safe place,” she stated.

The reverend sister remarked, “We could hear the security man running and saying something we could not hear clearly, they later drove off.”