Nigeria faces a worsening kidnappings crisis as the Senate urges stronger community policing amid a 13-day wave of abductions nationwide
Nigeria’s security crisis deepened at the weekend as bandits intensified coordinated attacks across multiple states, abducting monarchs, worshippers, students, travellers and residents in a 13-day spree that has seen at least 490 people kidnapped.
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The Nigeria kidnappings crisis has prompted renewed warnings from the Senate that the country must urgently reinforce community-based policing as security forces struggle to contain the escalating violence.
The latest assaults spanned Sokoto, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Borno, Kano and the Federal Capital Territory, leaving communities traumatised and families searching desperately for missing loved ones.
Despite President Bola Tinubu’s nationwide security emergency and ongoing military deployments, large swathes of the North remain under sustained threat.
In Abuja, seven mourners, including six girls and a 16-year-old boy, were kidnapped on 28 November in Gidan Bijimi, Bwari Area Council.
That same day in Niger State, 24 farm workers, including pregnant women, were taken from Palaita village in Shiroro.
Days earlier, 38 worshippers had been abducted during a Thanksgiving service in Eruku, Kwara State, where three people were killed.
On 23 November in Borno, ISWAP militants kidnapped 12 teenage girls aged between 15 and 20, although security forces later rescued them. By 21 November, over 315 people, including 303 students and 12 teachers, were seized from St Mary’s Private Primary and Secondary Schools in Niger State, with about 50 escaping subsequently.
Fresh attacks in Kwara and Kogi followed, including the abduction of 21 passengers on a highway, who were later rescued.
On Sunday, masked gunmen kidnapped the Ojibara of Bayagan in Kwara State, Oba Kamilu Salami, who was later forced to confirm he is being held for a ransom of N150 million.
In Sokoto, more than 30 women, including a bride and her wedding party, were kidnapped in Wurno Local Government Area during a dawn raid. Eyewitnesses described the assault as devastating, with attackers moving from house to house.
Efforts to obtain official confirmation from the police were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report.
Kogi State also recorded a church attack in Ejiba, where gunmen abducted a pastor, his wife and several worshippers. Commissioner for Information Kingsley Fanwo condemned the incident, saying initial intelligence suggested the attackers had been hiding nearby for days.
In Kano, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin called for intensified operations after fresh attacks in Tsanyawa and Shanono.
He warned that bandits fleeing military pressure in neighbouring states must not be allowed to regroup within Kano communities.
Senate Minority Leader Abba Moro insisted that Nigeria should rely on local solutions rather than foreign interventions, arguing that community-based structures have proved effective in previous rescue efforts.
He called for expanded roles for vigilantes, hunters and forest guards, describing them as crucial frontline actors.
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria condemned the Kogi church attack, branding it a direct challenge to President Tinubu’s security emergency.
The group’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, accused the Federal Government of lacking urgency, alleging that mass abductions continue partly due to weak leadership in security agencies.
He criticised the extension of the Inspector-General of Police’s tenure and claimed that nepotistic appointments were undermining strategy.
The Presidency rejected calls for foreign involvement after former President Olusegun Obasanjo suggested Nigerians could seek international help if the government fails to protect them.
Special Adviser on Media Sunday Dare said such proposals amounted to capitulation, insisting the administration’s strategies were already producing results.
He warned that portraying Nigeria as incapable of defending itself handed psychological gains to terrorists.
Security analysts argue that the spread of attacks across multiple states in less than two weeks underscores the urgency of the Senate’s concerns.
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Meanwhile, communities continue to plead for rapid intervention, improved surveillance and sustained rescue missions for hundreds still held in captivity.
