- Stakeholders cry out to governments as kidnappers rake in millions
- Tinubu should convoke special security summit – Expert
In the last one month, over 155 Nigerians, including security operatives, have lost their lives and been abducted in separate attacks by terrorists, bandits and herdsmen across the country, investigations by The Point have revealed.
The Point’s tracking and review of security incidents across Nigeria revealed that no fewer than 64 innocent citizens were killed by suspected terrorists and other assailants, while at least, 91 other Nigerians were kidnapped at different locations by suspected kidnappers.
Some of the casualties are officers of the Nigerian military and the Nigeria Police Force.
Findings further revealed that the deadly events, which occurred between February 2 and 28, 2025, happened in all the regions of the country.
As kidnapping incidents increase, abductors smile at the banks as they rake in millions of naira from their evil venture. In cruel circumstances, abductors kill their hostages after collecting the required ransom.
Aside from security agents and vigilante officials, other victims of the worsening insecurity are religious leaders, students, farmers, traditional rulers, travellers, religious worshippers, members of the National Youth Service Corps, leaders of thoughts among others.
Non-governmental organisations were also attacked in the growing criminalities.
For instance, on February 17, 2025, Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province, formerly known as Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, claimed that its fighters attacked an office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Borno State.
Sources claimed that two of the officials of the NGO were abducted and that the kidnappers were demanding N50 million for their release.
Gunmen reportedly killed the Chief Security Officer of the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Richard Timothy, and his 23-year-old son, Silas, at their residence in Igwuruta-Ali, near Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Narrating the horrifying incident in Port-Harcourt, Timothy’s widow, Grace, explained that the attackers, dressed in black, ambushed the family as they drove into their compound at night.
A National Youth Service Corps member, Lawal Rofiat Kofoworola, was kidnapped while travelling from Benin, Edo State, to Ibadan, Oyo State, to resume at her Place of Primary Assignment in Ogbomoso.
She regained freedom after her family paid a ransom of N1.1m.
The abductors were said to have demanded an N20m ransom which her family appealed that they could not afford.
Following back-and-forth negotiations, the kidnappers reportedly reduced the N20m ransom to N5m.
Eniola Olajuni, the national president of the Afenifere Youth Council, has just been released after spending 12 days in captivity.
His release was confirmed by Biodun Aderohunmu, the national secretary of the Youth Council, on Saturday.
Olajuni was abducted on Monday, February 17, 2025, while traveling to Abuja for a meeting. His kidnappers initially demanded a ransom of N100 million and two tricycles for his release.
Following a viral video showing Olajuni at gunpoint pleading for help, Kayode Egbetokun, the Inspector General of Police, on Wednesday, ordered the deployment of the Intelligence Response Team to ensure his safe return.
Maharazu Tsiga, a former Director General of the National Youth Service Corps equally regained his freedom at the weekend after spending 22 days in captivity.
The abducted NYSC boss was freed on Friday night, and he is currently receiving medical attention at an undisclosed hospital in Katsina state.
Tsiga was abducted on February 6, 2025, at his residence in Tsiga village, Bakori Local Government Area of Katsina State, by an unspecified number of bandits.
Investigations also revealed that there is a rising spate of school kidnappings and Mass abductions in many parts of Nigeria. Four female students were reportedly abducted from their hostel at J.S. Tarka University, Makurdi, Benue State recently.
Gunmen also kidnapped a Catholic Church Priest and two others in Rivers State on February 17.
In Ondo State, suspected kidnappers shot dead a health worker. One month after pirates attacked Marine Patrol on Oron-Calabar waterways, an officer of the Nigeria Police has remained with his kidnappers. Also, gunmen reportedly abducted three Federal College students in Ondo State and demanded N15 million ransom.
On February 7, bandits struck in Niger State, killing a vigilante and kidnapping six girls in the Rafi community of the state. Similarly, some suspected terrorists kidnapped an Imam and some of his Muslim worshippers during early morning prayer in Sokoto.
Following the deadly violence that reportedly claimed 24 lives in two separate incidents in Edo State, the state governor, Monday Okpebholo, vowed to deploy heightened security measures and bring perpetrators of the attacks to justice.
The first attack erupted in the agrarian community of Gbelemotin, Ovia South West Local Government Area, following clashes between cocoa farmers and alleged produce thieves.
Initial reports from the Edo State Police Command indicated seven fatalities, but local sources confirmed at least 22 deaths.
Militants reportedly involved in the clashes also destroyed buildings and farm produce worth millions of naira across seven farming communities in the area.
In Adamawa State, two Catholic Church priests identified as Rev. Fathers Matthew David Dusami and Abraham Samman were reportedly abducted at a convent in Gweda Mallam in the Numan Local Government Area of the state. The clergymen are said to be serving in Adamawa and Taraba diocese of the Catholic Church.
Also, attacks by suspected herdsmen in Benue State have led to the killing of at least 5000 persons in recent times. However, a yet-to-be confirmed number of persons have been killed by suspected herdsmen in a fresh attack on Ayin community in Benue State.
In another sad development in February, kidnappers killed a Nigerian Army non-commissioned officer, Abdulfatai Odutola, over a delay in ransom payment. Odutola, a Senior Non-Commissioned Officer, was abducted on February 15, 2025, along the Abuja-Jos highway. He was reportedly travelling to Yola, the Adamawa State capital, at the time of the incident. His kidnappers had demanded a ransom of N20 million for his release but after the ransom wasn’t forthcoming, he was reportedly killed.
The Nigeria Police Force, Benue State Command, in the month, confirmed fresh attacks and killings in the Jato Aka Turan community in the Kwande Local Government Area of the state by armed herdsmen.
At hostels of the Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, some students narrated how suspected herders broke into their rooms and took away students’ belongings, majorly expensive phones and other gadgets. The students said the assailants were armed with dangerous weapons, including guns and machetes.
Stakeholders cry out to governments
Perturbed by alarming security challenges across the country, stakeholders have asked governments and security agencies to rise up to the menace. While some wrote to state governors, others showed their grievance by attacking houses of their traditional rulers for failing to provide protection for them.
Some frustrated residents of Zamfara State who felt that government is not doing enough to address insecurity in the region, recently protested and set ablaze the palace of a traditional ruler, Emir of Maru in the Maru Local Government Area of the state.
This was after security operatives disrupted their peaceful protest against terrorism.
In Ondo State, the Council of Chiefs and Baales in Ugboland has sent “Save Our Souls” letters to the state governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the Ondo State Director of State Services, and other security agencies in the state to address the alarming insecurity and killings in the community.
The traditional chiefs asked the authorities to look into the case of murder of one Bababo Lowo, and the bodily harm inflicted on the Baale of Ugboland community, Chief Adebowale Ebiwanno, by rampaging gangsters who invaded the community recently.
The traditional rulers, who rose from their meeting held on Saturday, February 15, 2025 on the ongoing crisis in Ugboland, said many people had fled the community hibernating in neighbouring communities for their safety.
Condemning the abduction of four Nigerian female students, a global human rights body, the Amnesty International, has called on President Bola Tinubu to urgently address the rising insecurity in the country.
The human rights organisation in a statement strongly condemned the attack by gunmen and warned that the failure of the government to curb the abductions was threatening the future of education in the country.
“President Bola Tinubu and his government must urgently address the country’s spate of abductions targeting educational institutions,” Amnesty International stated.
The organisation criticised the authorities’ inability to protect students, adding that the growing insecurity is forcing many schools, especially in rural areas, to shut down.
Expressing deep concern over the recent resurgence of banditry and criminal activities across various parts of the state, Oyo Government, in a statement issued by Sulaimon Olanrewaju, Special Adviser (Media) to the state governor, said towns such as Ogbomoso, Oyo, Ibarapa, Oke-Ogun, and the environs of Ibadan are not safe.
Amid growing concerns, military, paramilitary and police forces have been giving assurances that insecurity would be tamed.
Convene special security summit now, expert tells Tinubu
Meanwhile, a security expert, Jackson Lekan, has lamented the worsening insecurity in the country, calling on President Bola Tinubu to convene a special summit that would involve retired military and para-military military chiefs and private security experts to proffer workable solutions to insecurity in Nigeria.
The renowned security guru suggested that security agencies appeared to have been overwhelmed with the recent surge in attacks, killings and abductions across the country.
In an interview with The Point, he said, “The President (Tinubu) is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces but does he have any security knowledge? The 36 state governors are nicknamed Chief Security Officers of their states but are they security people and do they have security knowledge? No!
“I think at this stage, there should be serious consultations with retired military and paramilitary men, with retired directors and chiefs of DSS, with university dons and private security experts. There should be a security summit where these people should sit down and proffer solutions. We have gotten to that level now. We have capable hands in our military and para-military, but I see them as being overwhelmed. There should be a serious security summit; a discreet one that the people of Nigeria should not know about.”
Blaming porous borders as part of enablers of insecurity in the country, Lekan asked that security across borders should be tightened.
“What is happening to our borders? Diplomatically, are we on good terms with Niger Republic, Mali, and Burkina Faso? But, from that axis, we have over a 1,000 kilometer boundary, those people will allow anything to come into this country from that angle because we don’t have any diplomatic or symbiotic relationships with them. The arms and ammunition are entering this country through porous, unsafe and unsecure borders,” he lamented.
