Tag: Kidnapping

Plateau: Kidnappers demand ₦42m from 28 abducted travellers’ families 

Aminu Imam
Plateau kidnappers demand

The kidnappers who abducted 28 travellers, including men, women and children, in Zak community, Bashar district of Wase local government area of Plateau State, are demanding a ransom of ₦1.5 million from each victim. The victims were taken on Sunday night while travelling to attend a Maulud event in Sabon-Layi community in the same Bashar district when gunmen ambushed their vehicle, abducting them and abandoning the vehicle. A relative of one of the victims, Ibrahim Musa, told newsmen yesterday that the abductors called the family for ransom, saying their relatives…

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Plateau: 28 travellers to Maulud event kidnapped by militants in Zak community

Aminu Imam
Plateau attack

Gunmen have abducted 28 travellers in Zak community, Bashar district, Wase LGA of Plateau State. A youth leader in Wase, Sapi’i Sambo, confirmed the development, in a telephone interview, saying that the victims included men, women and children. Another resident of Bashar town, Ibrahim Musa, explained that the whereabouts of the victims are still unknown. According to the youth leader, the victims were abducted on Sunday night on their way from Zak village to Sabon-Layi community to attend a Maulud event. According to Sambo, two princes and a religious leader…

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“Kidnapping started in the South, not the North” – Nasarawa Gov.

Aminu Imam
Nasarawa governor

Nasarawa State governor,  Abdullahi Sule, says insecurity, particularly kidnapping, has become a national crisis that no region can afford to ignore, insisting that the phenomenon did not originate in northern Nigeria as widely assumed. Speaking during a television programme at the weekend, the governor described a recent meeting of Nigerian governors as tense and emotionally-charged, reflecting the gravity of the nation’s security challenges. He said, “It is usually very forgetful for us in this part of the world – you know we usually forget things very, very easily – and…

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Kogi: Pastor, wife, worshippers abducted

Aminu Imam
Kogi abduction

…as Govt deploys helicopter, anti-kidnapping squad Kogi State witnessed a frightening escalation of insecurity over the weekend as armed bandits launched coordinated attacks across multiple communities, abducting a pastor, his wife, several worshippers, and motorists in Yagba-East and Yagba-West local government areas. The most distressing attack occurred early Sunday at the newly established Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Ejiba, Yagba-West LGA, where gunmen stormed the worship centre mid-service. The pastor, identified as Orlando, his wife, and several congregants were taken captive, forcing worshippers and nearby residents to flee in panic.…

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Niger: 10 feared kidnapped in Shiroro LGA communities

Aminu Imam
Niger kidnap

Bandits  have reportedly abducted 10 people from Unguwan-Kawo and Kuchipa villages in Shiroro local government area of Niger State, yesterday. The Niger State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, told newsmen that the incident occurred on Wednesday evening. “On November 26, 2025, at about 8 p.m, a report was received indicating that suspected armed men abducted about ten persons from Unguwan-Kawo and Kuchipa villages, of Shiroro local government area. Effort is being made to rescue the victims,” Abiodun said. Earlier on the same day, another attack was reported in…

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Bandits abduct 7 in fresh night raid on FCT community

Aminu Imam
FCT bandits abduction

Exactly one week after a police officer was shot dead in the Guto area of Bwari, bandits have launched yet another violent attack on the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT), abducting six young girls and a 16-year-old boy during a night raid on Gidan-Bijimi, a settlement in Kawu ward on the fringes of Bwari Area Council. Kawu shares a boundary with Kaduna State, and lies close to the Gidan-Dogo and Kweti forests – areas long regarded as transit routes and hideouts for criminal gangs operating along the FCT–Kaduna corridor. Gidan-Bijimi itself…

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11 abducted in Kwara, as Tinubu orders massive forest cordon, air–land raids on bandits

Aminu Imam
Kwara fresh attack

Bandits have launched yet another deadly raid in Kwara State, abducting 11 residents – including a pregnant woman, two nursing mothers and several children – in a fresh attack that has deepened national anxiety over escalating rural insecurity. The attackers, reportedly more than 20 and moving with a large herd of cattle, stormed Isapa community in Ekiti local government area on Monday, firing sporadically. An elderly woman was said to have been struck by a stray bullet while houses and doors were riddled with gunshots. Dozens of expended AK-47 shells…

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Kogi: Bandits abduct 6 Defence ministry Directors enroute Abuja

Aminu Imam
Kogi bandits abduction

Panic has gripped the Federal Civil Service following the abduction of six Directors of the Federal Ministry of Defence by suspected gunmen along the Kabba–Lokoja highway. It was gathered that they were abducted on Monday, November 10, 2025. The senior officers, who were travelling from Lagos to Abuja for a Directorate-level promotion examination, were intercepted by the assailants, in what sources described as a well-coordinated ambush. The incident, which has sent shockwaves through the Defence Ministry and the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, (ASCSN), has sparked renewed concerns…

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4,722 kidnapped, ₦2.57bn paid by Nigerians in 2 months’ – Report 

Aminu Imam
Kidnap report

No fewer than 4,722 people were kidnapped across Nigeria between July 2024 and June 2025, with ₦2.57 billion paid in ransoms against demands totalling ₦48 billion, according to a new report by SBM Intelligence. The study, titled: ‘Locust Business: The Economics of Nigeria’s Kidnap Industry A 2025 Update’, documents a crisis that has become entrenched as both a national security threat and an illicit economic sector. During the year under review, 997 incidents of kidnapping were recorded nationwide, leading to 762 deaths. Civilians made up the majority of the fatalities,…

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“We were kidnapped by Tiv people, not Fulani” – Freed victim 

Aminu Imam
Freed victims in Benue

A Nigerian Law School student, David Obiora, who was kidnapped alongside others on the night of July 26, 2025, has clarified that their abductors were Tiv indigenes from Benue State, and not Fulani as widely speculated. In a recent interview with newsmen,  Obiora recounted his ordeal, refuting claims by the Nigeria Police that he and five other students were rescued by security operatives in Benue State. Obiora, a law student at the Nigerian Law School’s Yola campus, explained that they were abducted along the Zakibiam-Mukari Expressway, after boarding a company’s…

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