Nigeria continues to struggle with a wave of mass kidnappings despite a recently declared state of national security emergency. In separate incidents occurring on Sunday and late Saturday, armed assailants abducted 26 individuals.
According to the Commissioner for Information in Kogi State, located in the central region of the country, a church in the village of Ejiba was attacked on Sunday. The assailants kidnapped the pastor and 11 congregants. The police have reportedly deployed a helicopter to the area and are actively pursuing search and rescue operations.
In Sokoto, located in northwestern Nigeria, a resident of the village of Chacho reported that armed men stormed their community and kidnapped 14 people. The victims included a bride, ten of her bridesmaids, and two other women, one of whom was carrying an infant.
For years, northwestern and central Nigeria have been plagued by bandit groups who engage in kidnapping for ransom, attack villages, and set homes ablaze after looting them. President Bola Tinubu declared a national security emergency last Wednesday, urging places of worship in vulnerable areas to strengthen their security measures.
In the past two weeks, there have been several high-profile kidnapping incidents, including the abduction of over 300 students from a Catholic school in Niger State and 38 worshippers from a church in Kwara State. All of those abducted in those incidents have since been released.
The recent surge in kidnappings follows statements made by U.S. President Donald Trump alleging that Christians in Nigeria are being killed by terrorists. The Nigerian government and security experts maintain that kidnapping victims include both Muslims and Christians, and that the primary motivation is financial gain through ransom payments.
