hendra-wijaya
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has directed security agencies to track down the armed men behind coordinated assaults on four villages in a remote area of Niger state, after footage purporting to show scores of captives surfaced online.
The attacks, carried out last Friday, struck several mosques at the same time as worshippers gathered for prayers, according to residents who spoke to local media. Gunmen said to be wearing military-style fatigues hit the communities of Dekara, Gidan Zana, Sabon Gida and Masaka, killing more than 40 people, although police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun cautioned that the final death toll has yet to be verified.
A youth leader from the area, who declined to give his name, estimated that as many as 500 people might have been seized — a figure authorities have not confirmed. He said he identified numerous neighbours in the video, which the kidnappers circulated on social media showing a group of detainees seated in a forest setting. Among them, he said, was an elderly man from Gidan Zana regarded as a grandfather figure in the community.
For some families, the footage brought a measure of comfort. The youth leader noted that relatives who recognised loved ones at least knew they were alive and could hope for rescue, unlike households still waiting for any word on missing family members.
Officials say the fallout continues to ripple through the region. Many residents have abandoned their homes for safer areas in neighbouring states or crossed into nearby Benin, while wounded survivors are being treated in hospitals, some with severe injuries. A local official also disclosed that the attackers laid improvised explosive devices along the routes they used to march captives into the bush; a teenage boy was killed when one of the devices detonated as he attempted to flee.
In a statement released through presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu condemned both the killings and the mass abduction, insisting the perpetrators would face justice. He described them as enemies of peace and humanity who would not escape accountability, and extended condolences to bereaved families. No ransom demands have been reported so far.
Authorities had initially attributed the raids to so-called bandits — criminal gangs that kidnap and loot for ransom across swathes of Nigeria. The violence underscores deteriorating security in the Borgu area, which borders Kebbi and Kwara states as well as Benin, and where police earlier this month freed 145 people kidnapped from four other villages.
Concerns are also mounting over jihadist activity in parts of north-western Nigeria and along the border belt. Local officials warn that fighters have recently moved into communities and begun enforcing religious restrictions on residents, deepening fears of a widening insurgency.
Comments (0)