Bandits Kidnap 490 People in Two-Week Rampage Across Nigeria
Armed bandits have abducted a staggering 490 people over a 13-day spate of attacks that swept across several states of Nigeria, targeting monarchs, worshippers, travellers, students, and churchgoers, according to a report from the The PUNCH.
The wave of violence, described as one of the worst in recent times, began on November 18 and has unfolded across multiple states including Sokoto, Niger, Kwara, Kogi, Borno, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Some of the victims include 38 worshippers abducted at a thanksgiving service in Eruku, Kwara State (three were killed during the attack) and over 315 students, along with 12 teachers, seized from a private school in Niger State.
Farm workers, pregnant women, travellers, and even wedding guests were not spared: on November 28 in the FCT, seven mourners (six girls and a teenage boy) were kidnapped during a burial gathering; and in Sokoto, gunmen abducted at least 30 women and a bride when they attacked a wedding party.
The nationwide security emergency declared by Bola Ahmed Tinubu appears yet to halt the surge. In response, the Senate of Nigeria warned of urgent need to bolster community-based policing and strengthen collaboration between security agencies and local communities, arguing that the scale of recent kidnappings shows the formal security apparatus alone cannot contain the attacks.
Civil-rights advocates and community groups condemned the continuing onslaught, calling it a direct challenge to citizens’ safety and a betrayal of the government’s promise of protection. Some critics accused the government of lacking the will or strategy to confront the growing menace of mass abductions and banditry.
As the toll mounts, and many of the abducted remain unaccounted for, families and communities are gripped by fear. Calls for urgent rescue, intensified security operations, and long-term solutions have grown louder from residents across the affected states.