Exactly 150 days after their children were seized by terrorists, distressed parents of 78 abducted schoolchildren in Borno State have been forced to postpone a planned mass protest at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The postponement comes as the families grapple with crippling poverty, a lack of transport fares, and the struggle to leave behind food for their remaining dependants.

The children have been in captivity following two separate mass kidnappings in the Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, where 42 school pupils were abducted in Mussa on May 15, and 36 college students were seized in Lassa on June 29, 2026.

The desperate families initially issued a six-day ultimatum to the Federal Government between September 21 and 27, 2026, demanding the rescue of their children.

However, the deadline elapsed without any official communication from the government. Compounding their frustration, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu travelled out of the country during the period, making a trip to the capital impractical at the time.

Speaking on the expiration of the deadline, the chairman of the Abducted Children’s Parents Association, Ishaku Suya, explained that the families lacked the financial resources required to travel to Abuja and sustain an indefinite protest as planned.

“You know, we must plan it very well. We need to have enough resources to settle our families back home and cover the expenses we will incur in Abuja, because we are not coming back until the President talks to us,” the chairman said.

He noted that many families are currently trying to harvest crops to mobilise funds for the journey. “We must keep food here, pay transport fare, and provide upkeep money while staying there, because no one knows how long we will stay.”

Describing the unbearable toll the situation is taking on the mothers of the victims, Suya said many have stopped eating and abandoned their farms due to the grief.

“They are always crying, and they don’t eat food … They need us very close to them,” he lamented.

He made an emotional appeal to the media and citizens across Nigeria to amplify their voices. “Our children are everyone’s children. I want you to feel the excruciating pain we are enduring.”

FG’s ‘double standard’

Some of the parents who spoke to our correspondent expressed deep anger over what they described as the government’s inaction and a glaring disparity in how security crises are handled across different regions of the country.

Sale Buba, one of the affected parents, questioned the government’s commitment, pointing to a double standard in the rescue missions.

He noted that the Borno children were kidnapped on the same day terrorists abducted more than 40 students and teachers in Oriire LGA of Oyo State.

He said that while the Oyo victims regained their freedom after 56 days in captivity, the Borno children have spent nearly five months in militant enclaves without any action by the president.

“They know that our children are in the Damboa forest, but they refused to deploy tracking drones and top military brass to handle their rescue operation as they did in Oyo,” Buba said.

“What did the president do when he wanted the Oyo children to be rescued? Why not apply it here? Enough of these deceptions.”

Another parent from Lassa, Mr Samuel Emmanuel, lamented that following the abduction, most farmers had left their farmlands unattended.

“Many of us were afraid to visit remote farmlands; we left them unattended, so crops we worked so hard to cultivate were destroyed. We could not get anything,” he said.

Most of the parents stated that the last time they had any official contact was during a meeting with Borno State Governor, Prof Babagana Zulum, who conveyed assurances from the presidency regarding the safe rescue of the students.

Since then, however, the families say they have been met with deafening silence from both state and federal authorities, with no updates on rescue efforts or negotiations with the abductors.

“We were told that Governor Zulum met the President last Friday and addressed newsmen shortly after the meeting. Today is Sunday, yet no single security brass has been sent to the community or to us for intelligence gathering or rescue operations,” said a parent, Daniel Gabriel.

‘Abuja trip still on the card’

Despite the temporary setback regarding the Abuja trip, the parents remain resolute, vowing to storm the Presidential Villa as soon as resources permit.

“We are determined to remain there until we are granted an audience, regardless of the number of days and the difficulties,” said a mother, Josephine Fadi.

Last Friday, Governor Zulum, while responding to newsmen at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said he met with the president and raised special concerns over the abduction of the school children in Mussa and Lassa.

He said the president responded positively and assured that the Nigerian Army, State Security Service, and Office of National Security Adviser would intensify efforts to rescue the children.

End ‘silence’ on captivity, HURIWA tells Tinubu

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has issued a call to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, demanding immediate and decisive action to secure the release of approximately 80 schoolchildren and teachers who have reportedly been held captive by terrorists in Borno State for nearly six months.

In a statement released on Sunday by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, the prominent civil rights organisation criticised the federal government’s handling of the situation, stating that the prolonged silence and captivity of the victims are unacceptable.

HURIWA emphasised that President Tinubu, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, carries a supreme legal, constitutional, and moral obligation to ensure the safe return of the children. The group asserted that citizens should never have to beg their government for basic protection and the defence of their fundamental right to life.

The prolonged ordeal has plunged the affected families into profound distress. (Daily Trust)