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Claim: President Bola Tinubu’s spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, claims that the Niger State’s Catholic Bishop/Diocese refused to release the names of students abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri.

Verdict: Misleading. The Catholic Diocese of Kontagora had already released the names of the abducted students hours before Onanuga made this claim on national television.

Full Text

The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, appeared on national television on Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, where he claimed that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Niger State and the management of St. Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, refused to provide the government with the list of abducted students.

Between 6:49 and 7:15 minutes of the programme, Onanuga said, 

“As of the moment up till now, the authorities are in the dark as to how many people are really missing. The Niger State governor asked for the list of missing students. Until now, I don’t know what kind of game the CAN bishop or chairman in Niger is playing; they are not collaborating with the government, they are not releasing the names… CAN chairman in Niger actually told the principal of that school not to talk to the security people…”

He added that nobody is sure of what really happened, and all the information circulating is speculation. 

“As of now, if you read the papers, the governor is saying nobody is sure of what really happened in that place, as it is now it’s all speculation that students are missing because they are not releasing the figure, they are not releasing the names of the students that are missing.”

DUBAWA decided to fact-check the claim because it was made by a senior government official on national television, widely circulated across media platforms, and could mislead the public about the actions of the Catholic Diocese and the handling of a sensitive security incident.

Verification

DUBAWA’s findings show that the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora had released the names of the abducted students before Onanuga’s appearance on television.

Media reports confirmed that the Diocese released a comprehensive list of 265 names, consisting of 239 primary school pupils, 14 secondary school students, and 12 staff members. These were the individuals confirmed to still be in captivity at the time this report was filed, on Nov. 25, 2025. 

Additionally, the Diocese and several news outlets published separate lists of the more than 50 pupils who had escaped or been reunited with their families.

The publication of these lists directly contradicts Onanuga’s claim that CAN or the Diocese “refused to release names.”

Thus, the allegation that the Niger Catholic Bishop or school authorities withheld the names is inaccurate and misleading.

Conclusion

Bayo Onanuga’s claim that the Niger Catholic Diocese and school authorities refused to release the names of abducted students from St. Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, is false. Available reports show that the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora published a detailed list of the abducted students, along with the names of those who escaped, hours before Onanuga made his statement on national television. While there may have been initial confusion immediately after the attack, the available facts confirm that the Diocese eventually made the names public.