In recent years, the country has witnessed a string of kidnappings by armed groups and terrorists, with a 2020 SB Morgen investigation revealing that between 2011 and 2020, victims paid over $18 million (N6.9 billion) in ransom to kidnappers.
From this statistic, SBM estimated that around $11 million (N4.2 billion) was paid between 2016 and 2020, indicating that abduction has become a business.
This report highlights 10 of the unforgettable kidnapping cases in the past few years in the country, starting with the Chibok Girls.
Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping
On April 14, 2014, almost 200 schoolgirls were abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, in a memorable kidnapping that shocked not only Nigeria but the entire world.
The kidnapping, carried out by the Boko Haram terrorist cult, sparked widespread outrage among international organisations such as the United Nations and Amnesty International, as well as leaders from Canada, China, France, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The majority of the countries reportedly promised to aid Nigeria with intelligence to recapture the girls.
On the night of the raid, some girls were reportedly loaded into trucks, while the others walked several miles until more vehicles arrived to transport them into Sambisa Forest, where Boko Haram insurgents were believed to have fortified camps.
Meanwhile, some of the girls were released in the months that followed, while some remain missing as of now.
Amnesty International felt the Nigerian military had four hours’ notice of the kidnapping but failed to send reinforcements to safeguard the school.
The incident was also said to have stained former President Goodluck Jonathan’s government.
Dapchi schoolgirls kidnapping
Four years after the Chibok schoolgirls’ kidnapping, on February 19, 2018, Boko Haram seized 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yunusari Local Government Area, Yobe State.
Five schoolgirls were claimed to have died on the same day of their abduction.
Ibrahim Gaidam, the then-state governor, reportedly blamed the attack on the Nigerian Army, claiming they had withdrawn a military roadblock from the town.
The girls were released a month later, with the exception of Leah Sharibu, a Christian girl who is thought to have been held captive by the terrorists because she refused to leave her faith and convert to Islam.
Since then, various individuals and advocacy groups have criticised the Federal Government for failing to seek Leah’s release nearly three years after the crime occurred.
In August 2018, an audio message was published in which Leah begged for her freedom. In October 2018, her parents revealed that Boko Haram had threatened to kill their daughter later that month if the government did not accept their demands.
In February 2019, social media users reported her death. However, the government disputed the reports, describing them as politically motivated disinformation.
Leah turned 16 on May 14, 2019, after being held captive for more than 400 days by Boko Haram. On May 16, 2019, some Muslims reportedly gathered to pray for the girl’s release.
In January 2020, Leah was claimed to have given birth to a baby boy after being forced to convert to Islam and marrying off to a Boko Haram commander.
Kankara schoolboys kidnapping
On the evening of December 11, 2020, a team of gunmen on motorbikes reportedly stormed the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State, where around 800 students lived.
The former President, Muhammadu Buhari, was believed to be present in his hometown of Daura, Katsina State, when the attack occurred.
During the reportedly hour-long operation, the school’s security guards were believed to have repulsed the shooters while waiting for police reinforcements.
As the police arrived and engaged the shooters in a gunfight, the attackers apparently retreated but fled with 344 schoolchildren. Several pupils were claimed to have scaled the school’s fence to escape.
A day after the event, the military claimed they discovered the gang’s hiding in a woodland and exchanged gunfire with them.
By December 14, Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari announced that the kidnappers had contacted them and that negotiations for the children’ release were underway.
A day later, an audio recording claimed to be from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau went viral online, with the cult claiming to be in control of the students. However, the recording could not be verified as Shekau’s voice.
The Katsina State authorities later stated that the abductions were carried out by criminal gangs, the majority of whom were former Fulani herdsmen looking to exact revenge on others.
By December 17, Masari reported that all 344 of the victims had been released from their captivity in a bush in adjacent Zamfara State.
UNIMAID lecturers’ kidnap
One of the kidnap cases that also shook the country was that of the lecturers of the University of Maiduguri, Borno State in July 2017.
Boko Haram terrorists had ambushed the lecturers, who were part of an oil exploration team of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, were on an oil prospecting mission to the Lake Chad Basin.
The team comprised UNIMAID staff, members of the Civilian Joint Task Force, and military personnel.
The terrorists killed five staff members during the ambush and abducted four others, the UNIMAID chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities confirmed.
The university said the deceased comprised two geologists, two technologists and a driver.
The Nigerian Army also confirmed that nine soldiers and one other person were killed in the ambush.
On July 28, Boko Haram released a video of three of the kidnapped lecturers, appealing to the Federal Government and others to help secure their release.
After over 200 days in captivity, Boko Haram released the workers.
According to reports, also freed were 10 women kidnapped by Boko Haram on a military/police convoy on Damboa road, near Maiduguri.
Babington Macaulay schoolgirls abduction
On February 29, 2016, about 15 gunmen reportedly attacked Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State at about 8pm, firing gunshots in the air during an operation in which three schoolgirls were abducted.
The schoolgirls were thereafter reportedly taken by the gunmen through Majidun to a creek via a canoe.
The girls were freed some days later after reportedly collecting a ransom.
Confessing to the crime in June 2016 after his arrest by the police, a kidnap kingpin, Felix Sylva, said he coordinated the girls’ abduction and others in the state, saying he got N300,000 as ransom before the girls were freed.
Nigerian-Turkish College students, teachers’ abduction
On January 13, 2017, the management of Nigerian-Turkish International School in Isheri, Ogun State, confirmed that eight persons, including five students and three staff members of the college, were kidnapped by gunmen. One of those kidnapped was a Turkish national.
The school said the kidnappers gained entrance into the compound through the school’s fence, saying the assailants dug a portion of the fence near a swamp.
The abductors reportedly arrived at about 9.30pm and went straight to the female hostels, where they seized the victims. After 11 days in captivity, the students and staff members were rescued by the police, although there were claims in some quarters that the school and the students’ families parted with millions of naira as ransoms.
Abuja-Kaduna Train Abduction
On March 28, 2022 a train on its way from Abuja was attacked by gunmen in the Kateri-Rijana area of Kaduna state, with several persons killed and others abducted.
The abducted passengers were released in batches, while the last set regained their freedom in October 2022.
In a statement on Thursday, Musa Danmadami, director, defence media operations, said the suspect was apprehended in Damba community in Chikun LGA, Kaduna state, on February 14.
“Troops of Operation Whirl Punch on 14 February 2023 responded to information on the presence of Boko Haram terrorists/Islamic State of West Africa Province kingpins at Damba community in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Subsequently, troops mobilised to the location and arrested 3 terrorists,” the statement reads.
“One of the terrorists arrested was identified as one of the masterminds of the 28 March 2022 terrorist attack on the Abuja Kaduna Train Services.”
Al-kadriyar and Ariyo Family Kidnapping (Nabeeha and Sisters)
On January 7, 2024 10 people from Sagwari Estate Layout at Dutse in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were kidnapped.
It was learned that the kidnappers who invaded Al-kadriyar’s residence at Zuma 1, near Bwari at about took away Nabeeha, her father and her sisters and demanded the sum of N100 million ransom for their release but later dropped it to N60 million.
Miss Ariyo was abducted along with her mother and three siblings two Sundays ago while Nabeeeha Al-kadriyar was seized with her father and five of her female siblings .
Ekiti Schoolchildren kidnap
On Monday January 29, 2024, Six schoolchildren, three teachers and a bus driver have were kidnapped in Emure Ekiti, Ekiti State.
The incident occurred when the school bus was conveying the children to Eporo-Ekiti.
It was gathered that the incident occured at the same time bandits attacked a vehicle conveying three traditional rulers between Oke-Ako and Ipao Ekiti, in Ajoni Local Government Area.
The gunmen were said to have ambushed the school bus carrying the pupils from a private nursery school back home at about 5 p.m.
IDP Kidnap
On February 29, suspected Boko Haram insurgents abducted over 200 internally displaced people, many of them children, in the Ngala Local Government Area of Borno State.
Kaduna School Kidnap
On March 7, “bandits” kidnapped 287 students, including many girls, at the government secondary school in Kuriga town, in northwestern Kaduna State.
Two days later, bandits broke into a boarding school in Gidan Bakuso village in Sokoto State and kidnapped 15 children as they slept.
Kaduna Community Kidnap
Most recently, on March 18, over 87 people were reported to have been kidnapped in Kajuru community in Kaduna State. The attack happened barely two days after 15 women and a man were abducted in the Dogon-Noma community of the same Local Government.