For more than a decade, civilians in Nigeria have faced multiple security threats and risk of atrocities as result of attacks, kidnappings and extortion by various non-state armed groups
Matthew Onocheta
The Sarkin Gobir of Gatawa District in Nigeria’s Sokoto State, Alhaji Isa Muhammad Bawa, who was abducted by terrorists, has cried out for help in a new video released by the kidnappers.
The Emir and his son were kidnapped in July at the Kwanar Maharba area while travelling from Sokoto to his home town, Sabon Birni, the headquarters of Sabon Birni local government of Sokoto State, a northwestern state.
“The bandits on sighting the Emir’s vehicle, started shooting guns which resulted in the tires of the vehicle bursting, and the driver losing control of the car. This forced the car to suddenly stop,” according to Gobir, one of the monarch’s sons.
“The bandits abducted the district head and his driver who happens to be his biological son,” he had told newsmen.
The abductors few days after the incident requested the sum of N1 billion as ransom for the release of the victims.
In a video released online, the monarch speaking in Hausa language, narrated how they were kidnapped by the terrorists.
He said their lives are in danger in the hands of their abductors, adding that they had been suffering in the forests where they are currently held.
Pleading for help, he urged the government to urgently come to their rescue.
Also in the video, one of the gunmen can be heard speaking in Hausa dictating to the victims what to say.
– Insecurity and violence in Nigeria –
For more than a decade, civilians in Nigeria have faced multiple security threats and risk of atrocities as result of attacks, kidnappings and extortion by various non-state armed groups.
Since the start of 2024 civilians have faced intensified violence across Nigeria, and near-daily attacks by armed groups resulting in kidnappings and other abuses against civilians.
Armed groups and gangs, including so-called “bandits,” have – for many years – perpetrated widespread atrocities, including murder, rape, kidnapping, organized cattle-rustling and plunder. Armed herdsmen are also destroying vast swaths of farmland, prompting many farmers to abandon their land out of fear of attack.