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

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...

Nigeria: Kaduna state outlaws negotiations with student kidnappers

Posted On 5 April 2021

Authorities in Nigeria‘s northwest Kaduna state have warned they will prosecute anyone who negotiates with the kidnappers of 39 missing students as parents called for their rescue.  Dozens of gunmen last month seized the students from their hostels in the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Afaka near the state capital Kaduna, after a gunfight with soldiers. The hostages are still being held by the gangs, who have released videos showing the distraught students being whipped and calling on the government to secure their release. It was the latest mass kidnapping in the country’s northwest, where criminal gangs have been increasingly abducting students for ransom, raiding villages, pillaging and stealing cattle.

In a statement on Sunday, Samuel Aruwan, Kaduna state internal security commissioner, ruled out negotiations and ransom payments to the kidnappers, warning “any person who claims to do so in any capacity, if found, will be prosecuted accordingly.”  Aruwan said the announcement was prompted by media reports that the state government had appointed “representatives to interface with bandits on its behalf.” “The Kaduna State Government hereby clarifies firmly that such intermediaries have never been appointed.”

On Monday, parents of the kidnapped students, who have formed a support group, issued a statement condemning the state government’s “insensitivity” over the negotiations threat.  “For us, the statement is unfortunate and another demonstration of callousness on the part of the government,” Sam Kambai, the group’s head, said in the statement.  “We can never abandon our children and we will do whatever we can to see that we get them back.”  Kambai said a father of one of the kidnapped students died of shock after learning about the kidnap of his daughter. Local media have named the individual as Ibrahim Shamaki. “We do not want to lose more parents… we will not resign to fate by doing nothing,” said Kambai, without giving further details.

On March 22 parents and colleagues of the kidnapped students held a protest outside the school where they blocked a highway and disrupted traffic for hours.  Heavily armed gangs have recently turned their focus to schools, where they kidnap students or schoolchildren for ransom — the Afaka mass abduction was at least the fourth such attack since December.

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