Kidnappers - The African Mirror

Nov

2023

Nigeria can defeat banditry by reconstructing the police system – criminologist

SECURITY in Nigeria has degenerated in the last 10 years. Various non-state armed groups have emerged countrywide. These actors include criminal gangs, separatist groups, Islamic fundamentalists and kidnappers. They all have different motivations and ways of operating. One of the country’s most pressing security challenges is described as “banditry”. It includes armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, rape and illegal possession of firearms. OLUWOLE OJEWALE, Regional Coordinator, Institute for Security Studies Attacks by bandits increased from 124 to 1,031 incidents between 2018 and 2022. There were around 13,485 banditry-related deaths between 2010 and May 2023. The activities of bandits are fast spreading…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

School term delayed in Nigerian capital zone amid kidnapping crisis

NEWS

THE start of the school term has been pushed back to an unusually late date in Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory (FCT) without explanation, after schools in nearby states were targeted by kidnappers seeking ransoms. More than 1,100 pupils have been abducted from their schools across northwest Nigeria since December, including in the states of Kaduna and Niger, which border the FCT to the north and west. Several parents in the FCT told Reuters their children had turned up at their schools this week expecting lessons to start only to be told the new term would not commence until Sept. 19.…

Aug

2021

By The African Mirror

Kidnappers demand ransom for 80 pupils

NEWS

KIDNAPPERS are demanding a ransom of one million naira each to release around 80 children snatched from a boarding school in northern Nigeria last month, according to a pastor involved in the negotiations for their release. The attack on the Bethel Baptist High School in the state of Kaduna was the 10th mass school kidnapping since December in northwest Nigeria, which authorities have attributed to criminal gangs seeking ransom payments. "(Bandits) are asking for one million naira on each of the 80 students remaining with them," Reverend Ite Joseph Hayab told Reuters by telephone. Kidnappers released 28 children last month…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Kidnappers release 28 pupils, 81 still held

NEWS

KIDNAPPERS who raided a boarding school in northern Nigeria earlier this month released 28 children on Sunday but another 81 remain in captivity, according to a pastor involved in the negotiations for their release. The attack on the Bethel Baptist High School in the state of Kaduna was the 10th mass school kidnapping since December in northwest Nigeria, which authorities have attributed to criminal gangs seeking ransom payments. A first batch of 28 children was released two days after the raid. Parents told Reuters that 180 students typically attend the school, and that pupils were in the process of sitting…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Kidnappers demand food for children seized in Nigeria school raid

NEWS

KIDNAPPERS who abducted more than 100 students from a boarding school in Nigeria's Kaduna state warned that the children could starve unless parents supply them with food, parents and the head of the Kaduna Baptist conference have. The Baptist official said about 125 students are missing, while at least 28 were reunited with their families, after the overnight raid on the Bethel Baptist High School early this week, the 10th mass school kidnapping since December in northwest Nigeria. Parents of those missing told Reuters that the kidnappers promised the children would be safe if parents delivered rice, beans, palm oil,…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Kidnappers abduct students in Nigeria

NEWS

THREE days after kidnappers released 14 students in Kaduna state, Nigeria, a new group of students were abducted in an attack on a school in the neighbouring Niger state. Niger state governor's chief press secretary announced the kidnapping yesterday. "There was an abduction at an Islamic School in Tegina. But we are yet to ascertain the number of students abducted," Mary Noel Berje told Reuters. Armed groups have repeatedly attacked schools and universities in northern Nigeria in recent months. On Friday kidnappers released the remaining 14 students who had been held captive after being abducted last month from a northern…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigerian university students abducted

NEWS

GARBA MUHAMMAD Kidnappers killed one person and took an unknown number of students from a university in northwest Nigeria's restive Kaduna state, police said yesterday, in the latest in a series of abductions at educational institutes. Armed groups have repeatedly struck northern Nigerian schools and universities since December, abducting more than 700 students for ransom. The government and security forces have largely been unable to stop the attacks as they struggle to contain worsening violence and criminality across the West African country. The armed kidnappers came on foot and struck Greenfield University in Kaduna at around 8.15 p.m. (1915 GMT)…