Kidnappings continue in Nigeria.

More than 100 people were missing in the northwest of the country after two separate attacks in Kaduna state, local authorities said Monday March 18.

These new kidnappings follow that of several dozen people last week in the same district of Kajuru, as well as that at the beginning of March of more than 250 students from a school in Kuriga, 150 km from Kajuru. 

The new kidnappings took place over the weekend.

During the night from Sunday to Monday, armed men kidnapped 87 people in the locality of Kajuru Station, according to the president of the local government, Ibrahim Gajere.

“They went to pick people up from their homes at gunpoint,” he told AFP.

A resident, Harisu Dari, said groups of attackers, known locally as bandits, stormed the village around 10 p.m. and went door to door kidnapping residents. 

A UN source and a former local official, both speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, confirmed the account.

Common practice of criminal gangs to obtain ransom

On Saturday, 16 people were kidnapped in Dogon Noma, about ten kilometers away, according to Harisu Dari, the UN source and former local official.

The Kaduna police and the state security commissioner did not respond to repeated requests for confirmation. 

Last week, gunmen kidnapped dozens of people in another village in Kajuru district. 

Criminal gangs often carry out mass kidnappings in northwest Nigeria, targeting schools, villages and highways where they can quickly kidnap large numbers of people in exchange for ransom. 

At the beginning of March, more than 100 women and children were kidnapped from a camp for displaced people in the state of Borno (northwest) by suspected jihadists.

Then gunmen kidnapped more than 250 students from a school in the village of Kuriga, about 150 km away, in one of the largest such attacks in years.

A few days later, at least 15 students from an Islamic school in Sokoto state in northwest Nigeria were kidnapped by armed men, according to local sources.

Some 4,777 people kidnapped since May 2023

This wave of large-scale kidnappings is testing the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has promised to tackle insecurity.

Last week, he said he had ordered security forces not to pay a ransom for the students' release.

The parents say the kidnappers demanded a large payment for the children's return.

In Nigeria, kidnapping victims are often released following negotiations with authorities, although officials deny that ransoms are paid.

Nigerian risk management consultancy SBM Intelligence said it had recorded 4,777 people kidnapped since Bola Ahmed Tinubu took office in May 2023.

With AFP

The France 24 summary of the week

invites you to look back at the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 application