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.
Olayomi Koiki
NIGER, Nigeria – A hotel owner, his manager and a guest abducted in Gauraka community in Tafa LGA of Niger State, North-Central Nigeria, have been shot dead by kidnappers after the assailants received ₦25 million ransom.
It was gathered that two vigilantes from the community, Abubakar Muhammad and Ibrahim Garba, who took the ransom to the kidnappers, were equally killed by the terrorists – locally dubbed as bandits in the West African country.
An ex-Chairman of Tafa LGA and relative of one of the vigilantes, Yau Ahmad, said the victims were shot dead in the Dogon-Daji Forest which borders Kaduna and Niger State, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Ahmad said that the remains of the victims were taken to the air force base close to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja following their discovery in the bush.
According to City & Crime, the commander of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) in Tafa, Hussaini Abubakar, said the remains of his colleagues were laid to rest on Saturday following a clearance from the army.
Abubakar further said that a man abducted from the community about a month earlier was rescued with gunshot injuries and was in an army medical facility in Abuja.
Police could not be reached for comment.
The slain victims were kidnapped in the early hours of Saturday, 17 August 2024, per a report by Daily Trust.
A resident of the community, who simply gave his name as Musa, said the attacker raided the hotel around 1 am and abducted all the lodgers in the facility.
Commander of the security vigilante in the area, Sabo Abdullahi, listed the victims as proprietor of the hotel, his younger brother and his wife, the hotel manager, as well as other guests.
Abdullahi had said the bandits who forced the gate of the facility opened on arrival, fired gunshots when they were leaving with their victims, which drew the people’s attention to the incident. “There was only one member of the security hunters close to the area and he fled the area on sighting them. On our own side, we were camping around the central part of the town, and it was already late by the time we received the information.”
Some residents while lamenting over the continued attacks on the town by the bandit, said the gunmen often take their victims to the forest nearby Apo community close to the area, as well as other areas along the Ijah-Koro, and Ijah-Gwari Road, which leads to Bwari town in the FCT.
According to City & Crime, Gauraka witnessed not less than five kidnapping incidents within the last four months.
– 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.
In August, the Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said insecurity in Nigeria is weaponised by politicians for political and selfish reasons.
A Nigerian soldier, Suleiman S., also alleged that the government’s practice of paying ransoms to terrorists – dubbed as bandits in the country was hindering the military’s ability to effectively combat them.
He urged the public to redirect their blame from the Nigerian Army to the government, emphasising that soldiers are constrained by orders and cannot take independent action.
He expressed frustration that the military’s potential is being wasted due to a lack of direction from leadership, whom he accused of profiting from the ongoing crisis.
He cited the assassination of a Sokoto State monarch, Alhaji Isa Muhammad Bawa as an example of a coordinated plan by certain individuals or groups to perpetuate insecurity.