Paul Ibe, media aide to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has expressed doubt over the circumstances surrounding the abduction and subsequent release of students from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Papiri, Niger State.

Ibe made the remarks on Sunday after authorities confirmed that the final batch of 130 students kidnapped from the school had been released, bringing to a close one of the country’s largest recent mass school abductions.

Reacting via a post on X (formerly Twitter), Ibe criticised the tone and manner in which the release was announced by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, suggesting that the incident appeared suspicious.

“The way you are announcing the release, or is it recovery of the remaining students of St. Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, makes the whole kidnap episode look arranged,” Ibe wrote. “With the Bola Tinubu administration, nothing is impossible,” he added, using the hashtag #StateCapture.

The students were abducted in the early hours of November 21 when armed men on motorcycles reportedly invaded the boarding school in Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State. The attackers were said to have moved from dormitory to dormitory before taking dozens of students into nearby forests.

Over the weeks that followed, the students were released in phases. About 50 reportedly escaped on their own during the initial attack, while security agencies secured the release of 100 students on December 8. The remaining 130 regained their freedom in the latest development.

The freed students arrived in Minna, the Niger State capital, on Sunday and were received at the Government House by Governor Mohammed Bago, alongside senior government officials and security personnel.

Confirming the release, the Bishop of Kontagora Diocese and proprietor of the school, Most Rev. Bulus Yohanna, disclosed that Governor Bago personally contacted him to convey the news of the students’ freedom.