Northern Nigeria has once again been plunged into a familiar nightmare. Within the span of just two days, at least 87 people — the vast majority of them women — were seized in two separate raids by gunmen in Niger and Zamfara states. The abductions have reignited public outrage and sharpened an urgent question: if military operations are intensifying, why does the kidnapping crisis keep deepening?
Two raids, less than 48 hours apart
The first attack unfolded on a Saturday in Niger State’s Mariga area. Armed men stormed a farming zone while residents were harvesting groundnuts. At least 47 farmers, including many women, were taken, a local source and a security report prepared for humanitarian organisations indicated.
The assailants reportedly arrived on roughly 50 motorcycles before scattering in multiple directions. Local accounts suggest the captives may be held in the Ma’undu forest. At the time the information emerged, no ransom demand had yet been communicated to the families.
The following day, Sunday, a second assault struck neighbouring Zamfara State. Forty women were reportedly abducted in Yargada, in the Gusau district, according to a security report prepared for the United Nations. Nearby villages — including Yargada, Maikogo and Magama Mairake — were also attacked. Homes and vehicles were set ablaze.
The true toll could be higher. Residents who spoke about the attacks mentioned more than 50 women and children seized across several villages. Those figures remain difficult to verify independently, given the isolation of the affected areas and the insecurity that grips them.
The ‘bandits’: a threat distinct from jihadist groups
The attacks are attributed to armed gangs commonly referred to in Nigeria as “bandits.” They are distinct in origin from jihadist organisations such as Boko Haram or the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), though the lines between organised crime, banditry and jihadist insurgency can sometimes blur.
Across north-west and central Nigeria, these groups have for years carried out kidnappings for ransom, cattle rustling and raids on villages. They exploit vast forested areas as hideouts and operational bases. Authorities struggle to control these rural territories, often far removed from major urban centres.
In Zamfara State, residents suggested the Sunday attacks may have been reprisals following the killing of several group members by local militias. That account, however, comes from local testimony and has not been independently established.
Abduction as a criminal economy
Beyond the violence, kidnappings have become a genuine revenue stream for armed groups. According to SBM Intelligence data, some 7.78 billion naira — roughly $5.8 million — was paid in ransoms between July 2025 and June 2026. That figure is more than three times the amount recorded in the previous period.
The same report estimates 7,825 people were abducted during that period, a 66% year-on-year increase. These numbers offer a sense of the scale of the phenomenon, even though they rely on data collected from various sources and do not necessarily constitute an exhaustive count.
The situation is all the more troubling because abductions do not only target farmers or travellers. Schoolchildren, families and entire village populations are regularly singled out. In May 2026, more than 80 children went missing after attacks on schools in Borno and Oyo states.
Government ramps up military operations
In response, President Bola Tinubu’s administration says it has stepped up the fight against terrorist groups, bandits and kidnapping networks.
The Nigerian military is now running multiple operations simultaneously on different fronts. In the North-East, Operation Hadin Kai is primarily dedicated to combating Boko Haram and ISWAP. In the North-West, Operation FANSAN YAMMA targets the armed groups responsible for numerous attacks and abductions in states such as Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Sokoto. Other operations are underway in the centre of the country.
Authorities highlight a strategy combining ground operations, airstrikes, intelligence, arrests and rescue missions. According to the Federal Ministry of Information, Nigerian forces have intensified operations against bandit and kidnapper networks in Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, Niger, Kaduna and several other regions.
Figures released by the military illustrate the scale of the offensive. For July and August 2026, Defence Headquarters claims 7,062 operations were conducted nationwide. The army says it neutralised 1,487 terrorists and insurgents, arrested 354 suspects and freed 777 abducted people. It also claims to have recovered nearly a thousand firearms. These data come from military authorities and are not all independently verifiable.
In the North-West, the army announced in late September the rescue of 14 kidnapped people during an operation in Kaduna and Katsina states. Authorities also say they recovered weapons and intercepted suspected members of terrorist networks.
Results that still fail to stop the abductions
Despite these operations, the multiplication of kidnappings shows the problem remains deeply entrenched. Days before the latest attacks, residents of Niger State had protested to demand the release of hundreds of people abducted in coordinated August raids. Local estimates put the number of captives at nearly 700 — a figure authorities had not confirmed.
The government’s challenge is therefore twofold: weaken armed groups while preventing them from regrouping in hard-to-reach rural areas. Security forces must also tackle the logistical networks, arms traffickers and financial circuits that allow criminal groups to fund their operations.
The latest abductions in Niger and Zamfara states thus recall a persistent reality: military pressure yields sporadic results, including arrests and hostage releases, but it has not yet ended the kidnapping economy.
For rural populations, the threat remains daily. Tending a field, going to market or crossing a forested area can still expose residents to abduction. And as long as armed groups retain the ability to move, hide and demand ransoms, security operations will need to be accompanied by a sustained effort in intelligence, community protection and territorial control.
The 87 abductions reported this weekend are, in that sense, less an isolated episode than another signal of Nigeria’s difficulty in durably restoring security in parts of the North.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.