COAS Visits Borno as Parents Lament Children’s 155 Days in Captivity

Lieutenant-General Waidi Shuaibu visited Borno amid anger over 78 school children abducted in May. Their parents had postponed a planned protest in Abuja because they lacked transport money and food for dependants. They hoped the visit would finally bring senior military attention to Mussa and Lassa, where the children were taken.

After arriving in Maiduguri at about 11a.m., Shuaibu held a closed-door meeting with senior Operation Hadin Kai officers at Maimalari Cantonment. He then addressed troops. He ordered them to maintain security during the 2027 elections and stressed inter-agency cooperation. He also reminded them about recent salary increases and federal logistical support.

The COAS later paid a courtesy call on Governor Babagana Zulum. His visit gives the families a possible opening to press for direct action, including an inspection of the affected communities. The article does not report that the children have been rescued or that Shuaibu visited Mussa or Lassa.

The abduction involved 78 school children from Borno State. They were taken on May 15, 2026, from the Mussa and Lassa communities. The incident happened on the same day that teachers and students were kidnapped in Oyo State, creating a striking contrast between the two cases.

The Borno children had been held for 155 days when the article was published. That figure shows the crisis was prolonged rather than a short-lived kidnapping. The parents say the children remained captive while the Oyo victims were rescued, leaving the Borno families feeling abandoned and overlooked.

The article gives no confirmed explanation for why the children remain captive and no confirmed rescue timetable. Their families are pressing for urgent action. They want the Chief of Army Staff to inspect Mussa and Lassa and help turn the high-profile visit into concrete rescue efforts.

Lieutenant-General Waidi Shuaibu is identified in the article as Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, or COAS. That position places him at the center of the army’s leadership. His Borno visit shows the role includes directing senior commanders, speaking to troops and responding to major security crises.

In Maiduguri, Shuaibu met senior officers of Operation Hadin Kai at Maimalari Cantonment. He addressed soldiers and told them to maintain a secure environment for the 2027 electoral process. He also emphasized inter-agency synergy, meaning the army should work closely with other security bodies. These actions connect military operations with wider national security priorities.

The article does not list every formal power of the COAS or describe a specific rescue plan issued by Shuaibu. It does show him pressing troops to fight insurgency and support election security. Families of the abducted children are also asking him to visit Mussa and Lassa personally.

The article identifies Operation Hadin Kai as the operation whose senior officers met Lieutenant-General Shuaibu at Maimalari Cantonment. It does not provide an official definition, structure or full area of responsibility. From the report, it is the military command operating in Borno and handling the region’s insurgency-related security challenges.

After arriving in Maiduguri, Shuaibu held a closed-door meeting with its senior officers and then addressed the troops. He told them to maintain a security-free breach during the 2027 elections, meaning the electoral process should face no security breakdown. He also stressed cooperation among security agencies.

The operation is important because Borno is where the 78 children were abducted and where their families want military leaders to act. The article does not say Operation Hadin Kai has located or rescued them. Its current importance lies in its position within the military response and the pressure now placed on its commanders.

The prolonged captivity has created both emotional and financial suffering. Parents say they have been left to grieve in isolation. They also face crippling poverty, lack transport fares and struggle to leave food for dependants while trying to campaign for their children’s release.

The families planned to travel to Abuja and occupy the streets outside the Presidential Villa until President Tinubu addressed them. They postponed the journey because they could not meet basic travel and household needs. Ishaku Suya, their association chairman, said they were surprised by the seriousness given to the Oyo victims after those children were rescued.

The community impact also includes a strong sense of unequal treatment and official neglect. Suya said no top security chief had visited the affected communities since the abduction. The parents now hope the COAS’s Borno visit becomes a turning point, especially if he personally inspects Mussa and Lassa.

Rescuing the children requires agencies to combine military force, policing, intelligence and local security knowledge. The army may conduct operations, while police and intelligence services can support investigations, information gathering and civilian protection. The article does not assign these exact tasks, but it makes clear that President Tinubu directed all security-agency heads to launch rescue operations nationwide.

The need for cooperation is also tied to the 2027 elections. Shuaibu told troops to provide an enabling environment for a hit-free electoral process. That requires security bodies to share information, coordinate deployments and respond quickly across communities. Inter-agency work reduces gaps that armed groups or kidnappers could exploit.

The current response combines executive orders, military leadership and state-level engagement. Governor Zulum met President Tinubu about the children, while Shuaibu met Operation Hadin Kai commanders. The forward test is whether these efforts produce the children’s release and safe elections, not merely meetings or statements.

An insurgency is a sustained armed campaign by an organized group seeking to challenge or weaken government authority. It can involve attacks, territorial pressure, intimidation and kidnappings. An ordinary criminal kidnapping is usually a more limited crime, often carried out to demand ransom or gain another personal advantage. This distinction is based on established general knowledge, not a definition supplied by the article.

The article places the Borno crisis within an insurgency setting. Shuaibu told soldiers to continue the fight against insurgency, and Defence Minister Christopher Musa spoke of terrorist and bandit camps. The children were abducted from Mussa and Lassa, but the report does not name the perpetrators or state whether ransom was demanded.

That uncertainty matters. A kidnapping linked to insurgency may require broader military and intelligence operations than a stand-alone criminal case. The government has ordered nationwide rescue operations, while the army is preparing for election security. The article does not confirm the children’s location, the captors’ identity or a completed rescue.