Gunmen in Nigeria have carried out another abduction, taking at least 87 individuals including women and children captive in the Kajuru area of Kaduna state, according to local residents and police reports Monday. This incident follows closely on the heels of a recent attack where 286 students and staff were seized from a school by an armed gang.
The abduction occurred on Sunday night, with assailants forcibly removing people from their homes at gunpoint, as confirmed by Ibrahim Gajere, a local official. The gunmen, disguised in army uniforms, managed to enter the village undetected after parking their motorbikes away from sight. Tanko Wada Sarkin, the village head, revealed that 87 individuals were abducted, marking the fifth attack on their community by bandits.
A resident named Aruwa Ya’u recounted being captured but later released due to his poor health. However, others like Haruna Atiku shared harrowing experiences of witnessing their loved ones being taken away. Atiku’s wife and two daughters are among the missing.
This incident adds to the alarming trend of mass kidnappings and violence perpetrated by bandits in northwest and north-central Nigeria, leading to the displacement of approximately one million people, according to the United Nations. Despite the frequent attacks, authorities have struggled to contain the situation, intensifying pressure on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration which came to power last year pledging to bring a semblance of security to the nation.
In addition to the Kajuru abduction, 16 individuals were kidnapped in the nearby Dogon Noma area, and on March 7, over 250 students were abducted from a school in Kuriga village. These kidnappings, initially associated with the Boko Haram group, have become a tactic employed by criminal gangs seeking ransom payments.
While negotiations often lead to the release of kidnapping victims, the process exacts a heavy toll on families and communities, forcing them to deplete their savings and sell assets to secure the freedom of their loved ones. Despite a legal ban on ransom payments to kidnappers, authorities deny such transactions. The Nigerian risk consultancy SBM Intelligence has recorded a significant rise in the number of abductions since Tinubu’s assumption of office.
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In a career spanning three decades and counting, Ramananda (Ram to his friends) has been the foreign editor of The Telegraph, Outlook Magazine and the New Indian Express. He helped set up rediff.com’s editorial operations in San Jose and New York, helmed sify.com, and was the founder editor of India.com.
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