Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, representing Borno South Senatorial District, has confirmed that at least 42 students and children were abducted during a violent raid by suspected Boko Haram terrorists on a school and community in Borno State.

The attack took place on Friday morning at the Mussa Primary and Government Day Secondary School (GDSS) in the Askira-Uba Local Government Area while early morning classes were actively in session.

According to a signed press statement issued by Senator Ndume on Saturday, the total number of victims spans across different age brackets and sections of the community.

School authorities detailed that four secondary school students—consisting of two males and two females—were taken from the GDSS section, while 28 younger pupils were seized directly from the primary school.

Additionally, the insurgents abducted 10 children from nearby residential houses as they moved through the community.

The heavily armed assailants reportedly breached the community on motorcycles, throwing the school into immediate panic as children and teachers scattered into the surrounding bushes on the fringes of the Sambisa Forest to escape.

Despite the escape of some students, the mass abduction marks a harrowing escalation, as Borno State had not witnessed a major school-targeted kidnapping since the infamous 2014 Chibok incident.

The member representing the Askira-Uba/Hawul Federal Constituency, Midala Balami, strongly condemned the assault, describing the situation as heartbreaking and lamenting the continued vulnerability of innocent rural schoolchildren to terrorism.

Simultaneously, local youth groups, including the Borno South Youth Alliance, indicated they are conducting house-to-house verifications to compile a precise, nominal list of the missing minors to assist ongoing recovery efforts.

Senator Ndume described the targeting of resilient children seeking an education as barbaric and deeply traumatising for parents. He formally appealed to Nigeria’s security agencies, particularly the leadership of the Nigerian Army, to deploy immediate tactical assets to track the insurgents and rescue the captives safely.