Category: Nigeria

Nigeria’s 3 Wars: ISIS, Bandits, and Grifters

Buffeted by insurgent attacks in Nigeria’s northeast and northwest, the Nigerian army is bracing itself for more challenges, including mega-fraud by arms procurers. “Nigeria’s army is stretched thin,” according to David Otto, a London-based defense consultant for the Nigerian Defense Ministry. The competition between two terrorist groups claiming the mantle of ISIS was decided in…


Police Chief, Six Bandits Die in Clash in Southeast Nigeria

YENAGOA, Nigeria—A Nigerian local police chief and six bandits were shot dead during a clash in southeastern Imo State, police said on Tuesday, the latest incident in a multi-faceted insecurity crisis engulfing Africa’s most populous nation. The clash took place on Monday when a large group of gunmen were spotted driving into the town of Omuma in a convoy of three vehicles. Police attacked them, resulting in the seven deaths and in…


28 Abducted Baptist School Students Freed in Nigeria

KANO, Nigeria—Armed kidnappers in Nigeria have released 28 of the more than 120 students who were abducted at the beginning of July from the Bethel Baptist High School in the northern town of Damishi. Church officials handed those children over to their parents at the school on Sunday. But the Rev. Israel Akanji, president of…


Police in Nigeria Secure Release of 100 Kidnapping Victims

LAGOS—Police and government authorities have secured the release of 100 people, including women, children, and nursing mothers, who were kidnapped from their village in northwestern Nigeria over a month ago, a local police spokesperson said. Nigeria is battling an increase in armed robberies and kidnappings for ransom, mainly in northwestern states, where thinly deployed security…


Nigerian Women Protest Alleged Military Complicity With Terrorists

JOS, Nigeria—Having buried their fathers, sons, and husbands who died as a result of terrorist activity in Nigeria, along with what they claim is complicity by the military, northern Nigerian women have taken to the streets in protest. From January to June, 23 attacks by Fulani terrorists in Nigeria’s Plateau State resulted in 215 deaths,…


Gunmen Kidnap Dozens of Villagers in Northwestern Nigeria

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria—Gunmen abducted at least 60 people and killed one person in northwestern Nigeria after riding motorbikes into five villages and firing sporadically into the air, a police official and several residents said on Saturday. Nigeria is battling an increase in armed robberies and kidnappings for ransom, mainly in northwestern areas, where thinly stretched security…


Gunmen Kill at Least 45 People in Northwest Nigerian Town

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria—Militants killed at least 45 people in an attack on the town of Faru in northwest Nigeria, residents and a hospital worker said on Friday. “The armed bandits stormed Faru town on more than 100 motorbikes, shooting sporadically on the people at about twelve noon yesterday,” said Abubakar Iliyasu, a resident who witnessed the…


Kidnapped Nigerian Students Freed After Ransom Paid

KADUNA, Nigeria–Six students and two officials who were kidnapped last month from a school in Nigeria’s Kaduna state were released after relatives paid ransom money, a school official and parent said on Friday. Kidnappings by armed men, commonly referred to in Nigeria as “bandits”, have become endemic in northern Nigeria, disrupting the education of hundreds…


Kidnapped Nigerian Students Freed After Ransom Paid: School, Parent

KADUNA, Nigeria–Six students and two officials who were kidnapped last month from a school in Nigeria’s Kaduna state were released after relatives paid ransom money, a school official and parent said on Friday. Kidnappings by armed men, commonly referred to in Nigeria as “bandits”, have become endemic in northern Nigeria, disrupting the education of hundreds…


Christians Charge Nigerian Government With Complicity in Kidnappings

KADUNA—On July 7 Evangelical leaders in Nigeria and the United States accused Nigerian authorities of complicity in terrorism. The news event drawing their fire was the July 5 kidnapping of 121 Students of Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State, which brings the number of students kidnapped for ransom this year to over 1000. The principal of the…