Nigeria allegedly paid Boko Haram millions to free schoolchildren

A group of freed school children line up to enter the Governor’s office in Minna on December 8, 2025. Picture: Light Oriye Tamunotonye / AFP The Nigerian government paid Boko Haram militants a “huge” ransom of millions of dollars to free up to 230 children and staff the jihadists abducted from a Catholic school in November, intelligence sources told AFP. Two Boko Haram commanders were also freed as part of the deal, which goes against the country’s own law banning payments to kidnappers.

The money was flown on a helicopter to Boko Haram’s Gwoza stronghold in northeastern Borno state on the border with Cameroon and delivered to Ali Ngulde, a militant commander in the area, three sources told AFP. Due to the lack of communications cover in the remote area, Ngulde had to cross into Cameroon to confirm delivery of the ransom before the first group of 100 children were released. The decision to pay the jihadists, who sparked worldwide protests after they kidnapped 276 mostly Christian girls in Chibok in 2014, is also likely to irritate the US and President Donald Trump, who has cast himself as a defender of the country’s Christians.

Nigerian government officials deny any ransom was paid to the armed gang that snatched close to 300 schoolchildren and staff from St. Mary’s boarding school in Papiri in central Niger state on November 21. Boko Haram has not been previously linked to the kidnapping, but sources told AFP one of its most feared commanders was behind the mass abduction.

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The notorious jihadist known as Sadiku is also suspected of leading a spectacular 2022 gun and bomb attack on a train between the capital Abuja and Kaduna, which also netted hefty payments in ransoms for scores of well-off passengers that included bankers and government officials. Mary’s pupils and staff were freed after two weeks of negotiations led by Nuhu Ribadu, Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA), with the government insisting no ransom was paid. However, four intelligence sources familiar with the talks told AFP the government paid a “huge” ransom to get the pupils back.

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