MEA RISK’s SHIELD & ALERT notifications: Access requires installing Shield & Alert mobile application. More info on S&A here or click here to signup and install

Nigeria grapples with end of fuel subsidy

By Alexandre Martins Lopes: Nigerians are struggling with surging fuel prices after newly elected President Bola Tinubu declared an end to popular subsidies, a move analysts and experts said was long overdue. On his first day in office, Tinubu kept to his campaign...

Nigeria: Bandits raid six villages in north, kill 30 civilians

Armed men killed 30 people in weekend raids on six villages in Nigeria's north, a region regularly hit by criminal violence and clashes between communities, local police have said. The bloodshed is the latest outbreak of inter-communal violence which the country's...

Nigeria: ISWAP ambushes army unit, kills several soldiers

Several Nigerian soldiers died in an attack on a military convoy in the Lake Chad region by jihadist fighters aligned with the Islamic State group, security forces said Tuesday.  The convoy was hit by militants from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)...

Nigeria: Cash-strapped Boko Haram kidnaps herders for ransom

Posted On 7 June 2023

Boko Haram jihadists have kidnapped 30 ethnic Fulani herders near northeast Nigeria’s Lake Chad, demanding ransom for their release, fishermen and the head of an anti-jihadist militia told AFP Tuesday. The militants in eight boats stormed the fishing and herding villages of Tudun Kwastan, Kwatar Turare and Kwatar Kuwait on the shores of the lake on Friday, seizing 30 herders, including men and women, the sources said. “The Boko Haram insurgents went to selected Fulani homes in the villages and took away 30 men and women,” Labo Sani, a fisherman from nearby Doron Baga, told AFP.

“They left a message asking the hostages’ families to raise 20 million naira ($43,000) for their release,” Labo said. The militants demanded the ransom be delivered to Musaram island, where the hostages would be released to their families, said Sallau Arzika, another fisherman. Since Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) split from Boko Haram in 2016, it has seized control of most territory from Boko Haram, including around Lake Chad, where it now has a strong presence.

The group allowed fishermen and herders to fish and graze in its territory after paying tax, providing it with a huge source of income, the two fishermen said.

Boko Haram, which lacks such sources of income, is desperately looking for cash and decided to abduct the herders to squeeze money from them, anti-jihadist militia in the region said. “The kidnap was purely for money, and as long as the herders raise the money Boko Haram demanded, the hostages will be released,” said the militia leader.

But he warned that payment would not bring an end to the kidnappings. “The Fulani herders in the Doron Baga area have started leaving for fear of more kidnappings,” said the militia leader.

The jihadist conflict, which started in 2019, has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced about two million in the northeast, according to the United Nations. Nigeria’s new president, Bola Tinubu, who was sworn in at the end of May as the head of Africa’s most populous country and the continent’s largest economy, faces a host of security challenges. Like his predecessors, he has promised to make the fight against insecurity “his top priority”.

AFP

Recent News from Nigeria

Nigerian army drone hits village in Kaduna State, kills civilians

By Aminu Abubakar with Laurie Churchman in Abuja: An army drone strike accidentally hit a village in northwestern Nigeria killing dozens of civilians celebrating a Muslim festival, local authorities, the military and residents said on Monday. Nigeria's armed forces...

Shield and Alert Nigeria

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This