Nigeria confirms planned withdrawal of US troops sent to help tackle insecurity crisis

Nigeria on Tuesday confirmed the planned withdrawal of around 200 U.S. troops sent to help the West African country tackle its complex security crisis.

The deployment was made in February following an escalation in tensions between Nigeria and the U.S. following accusations of Christian genocide.

According to the Nigerian government, the U.S. troops assisted in training and intelligence gathering and took part in a joint operation in which a top Islamic State leader was killed.

“The relationship between Nigeria and the United States remains strong, enduring, and mutually beneficial. The deployment of United States personnel was tied to specific operational and counterterrorism objectives,” Nigerian military spokesperson Samaila Uba said.

He said the withdrawal is a part of the engagement and some parts of the security partnership will continue.

Nigeria is facing a serious security crisis. Jihadist groups and other criminal groups carry out several attacks across the country. Since President Bola Tinubu came to power, the crisis has worsened, spreading southward.

Analysts say that despite the deployment of troops and U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims on the security crisis, little has changed on the ground. Last week, scores of people were abducted in the central region of the country.

AP

Video - Families search for missing loved ones in Nigeria

Families in Nigeria’s Borno State continue to search for loved ones who have disappeared, as the world marks the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. The annual observance highlights people whose whereabouts remain unknown after abduction, arrest, detention or other unlawful deprivation of liberty.

CGTN Africa

Nigeria’s worsening insecurity tests president’s second-term bid

The mass abduction of hundreds of people from mosques in northern Nigeria this month was at once shocking and yet unsurprising: The targeting of civilians by insurgents and bandits has surged compared to last year, and the three months through June were the most violent in at least three decades.

The latest attack comes on the heels of a retired army general's shocking death in captivity after being kidnapped on his way to a wedding, and the kidnap of more than a hundred other travelers in two separate events in the northwest.

President Bola Tinubu, who began a three-week vacation in Europe on Sunday, ordered an army and police rescue operation of the 600 people kidnapped in Niger state, but the episode comes at a crucial moment: He is in the midst of campaigning for reelection and while his team has trumpeted economic progress, it has been quieter about Nigeria's security situation.

Tinubu anchored his 2023 manifesto on grand national security promises of "a proactive and intelligence driven security approach," but he has mainly focused on fixing Nigeria's ailing economy in his first term. His team put out a scorecard this month of his three-year performance that focused on economic results.

"Certainly in the first couple of years of this administration, insecurity did not seem to be the priority," said James Barnett, a non-resident fellow at the Hudson Institute who has lived and researched conflict in Nigeria. "That doesn't mean there weren't security policies being implemented, but it was not really getting the top level engagement."

Leading opposition candidates Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, also Tinubu's main rivals ballot in 2023, have pledged to hire more people and "decentralize security management" to tackle insecurity, if elected. For his part, Tinubu has backed a law that will allow Nigerian states to set up their own police departments, and tasked a security committee with drafting a five-year "strategic defence operations plan."

Alexander's view

The worry over being abducted is more firmly ingrained in the Nigerian psyche compared to three years ago. The increasing chances of being taken, whether one is in a church, mosque, school, on a trip to the capital Abuja or resting at home, is a grim reality that should not be the case given Tinubu's firm campaign pledges.

Since his first day in office, Tinubu has made sweeping economic changes — from a fuel subsidy removal and naira devaluations, to overhauling tax laws and reigniting oil and gas investment — but has not shown the same urgency on security issues that should be his primary duty. It means that Nigeria's continuing failure to stamp out abduction and terrorism is Tinubu's failure.

"Despite sustained military pressure, there's no evidence that Nigeria's insecurity is abating in substantial terms," Taiwo Hassan Adebayo, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa, told me. "Nigerian security planners need to ask and respond to the questions about how the armed groups source their weapons, get fuel they use to power their bikes, and access Starlink for connectivity in their remote locations where telco service is off," Adebayo said.

For Tinubu and his chief adversaries Atiku and Obi, then, Nigeria's security predicament will require more than election season sloganeering. The candidates are yet to captivate voters with a robust action plan that seriously takes into account the ideological, economic, and governance gaps that enable bad actors to thrive. And so in facing the same electoral choices as last time, Nigerians are limited to the same set of ideas ill-suited against worsening problems.

Know More

Ladd Serwat, senior Africa analyst at ACLED whose data shows a 30% rise in the targeting of civilians by insurgents and bandit groups in Nigeria, said this year's second quarter was the country's most violent since the Wisconsin-based firm began collecting data in 1997. "The spread and intensification of armed banditry across northern and central Nigeria" drove the escalation, Serwat told Semafor.

Banditry is increasingly lucrative: Between July 2025 and this year, ransom payments for abductions in Nigeria tripled to $5.8 million, according to the SBM, a Lagos-based consultancy. The rise was on the back of a 66% year-on-year increase in the number of kidnap victims, the firm said.

Analysts say terror groups like rival factions of Boko Haram and al-Qaida affiliates such as the JNIM sect are surging in number and increasingly competing with one another in Nigeria, to a degree that makes it sometimes difficult to distinguish between them and correctly attribute actions.

The insecurity landscape is also more chaotic because some groups, after initially being invited to help defend against insurgents, turned into terrorists, said Dengiyefa Angalapu, an analyst at the Center for Democracy and Development in Abuja.

One such group is Lakurawa. It entered Nigeria from the Sahel following a recourse to self-help by some communities in the northwest, but Nigeria declared it a terrorist group last year for its al-Qaida ties. This identity flux adds to the difficulty of Nigeria's fight against guerrilla warfare, Angalapu said. "They sometimes mix very well with their communities. Sometimes they are bandits by night, and community members by day."

Other conflicts such as between farmers and herders, separatist movements in the southeast, and oil theft in the Niger Delta make up Nigeria's "increasingly layered and geographically dispersed," security troubles that raise the cost of doing business, Jervin Naidoo, political analyst at Oxford Economics Africa, said.

Step Back

After the threat of a coup late last year, Tinubu reshuffled the Nigerian military's top brass. The new leadership then participated in a joint operation with the US in December, striking terrorist enclaves. This year, Tinubu has raised army officers' pay and created more army units, while Nuhu Ribadu, his national security advisor, has met with US officials on three occasions since November to update Washington on Nigeria's efforts to prosecute terrorists and counter terrorist financing.

Yet, "a lot of the Nigerian government's reaction has had to do with managing diplomatic relations," Barnett, of the Hudson Institute, said. Raising military pay and expanding firepower were positive measures, but whether Tinubu maintains the political energy needed to fully implement structural changes beyond this election season remains to be seen, Barnett said.

Room for Disagreement

Ebenezer Obadare, the Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow on African Studies, tallies about a half dozen military operations by the Tinubu administration that have rescued hostages, and declares that "the Nigerian President has every reason to be delighted." The killing of at least four high-profile terror group leaders and more than 1,000 terrorists with the US government's assistance suggests that the tide of a prolonged fight against jihadist insurgency "has turned in favor of the Nigerian authorities," he wrote.

But Obadare added that Nigeria's security situation "remains critical," and that continued cooperation with the US remains necessary "for the foreseeable future."

The View From Washington DC

The US Department of Defense plans to withdraw 200 troops who were deployed to Nigeria in February as part of the Trump administration's counter-terrorism assistance. The mission generated "significant security returns," the Pentagon said.

President Donald Trump's aides and Republican political allies have often framed security engagements with Nigeria firstly as a defense of Christians that are supposedly being particularly targeted by jihadists. It continues to be the leading priority of a joint working group that said Abuja has taken steps to prosecute hundreds of terror suspects, and improve law enforcement capacity.

Nigeria has spent at least $9 million on lobbying in the US to counter sentiments questioning Tinubu's security commitment. But that has not stopped Trump allies, like Sen. Ted Cruz, chair of the US Senate's Africa subcommittee, from threatening sanctions and an aid freeze in response to what they still deem to be "mass violence against Christians and religious minorities."

By Alexander Onukwue, SEMAFOR

Related story: Video - Kidnappings surge in Nigeria as ransom payments climb

Video - Kidnappings surge in Nigeria as ransom payments climb

A SBM Intelligence report found that 7,825 people were kidnapped in Nigeria in the 12 months to June — a 66% rise on the previous year. The consultancy estimates nearly $5.8 million was paid in ransoms, cautioning that the true total is likely higher because many payments go unreported.

CGTN Africa

Related story: Video - Nigerian armed groups raise nearly $6 Million in ransoms, study finds

Video - Nigerian armed groups raise nearly $6 Million in ransoms, study finds

 

Armed groups in Nigeria collected nearly $6 million in ransom payments over the past year, as kidnappings surged across Africa’s most populous country, according to a new study. 

The Lagos-based SBM Intelligence consultancy estimates that about 7.78 billion naira, or $5.8 million, was paid in ransom between July 2025 and June 2026 — more than three times the amount recorded the previous year. 

At least 7,825 people were abducted, a 66% increase, while more than 1,100 people were killed, including nearly 900 civilians. Two mass kidnappings attributed to Boko Haram accounted for almost 90% of the ransom total, according to the report.

More than 400 people were abducted in Borno state, while around 300 pupils and staff were taken from a Catholic school in Niger state. The figures may be an underestimate, as many victims and their families are reluctant to report ransom payments, which are illegal in Nigeria. 

Kidnapping has become an increasingly lucrative source of income for jihadists and criminal gangs known as bandits. The northwest remains the hardest-hit region, with mass abductions becoming increasingly common. 

The report says 80% of victims were taken in group seizures, highlighting the growing scale of the crisis. Nigeria's security forces are already stretched by a 17-year jihadist insurgency in the northeast, widespread banditry in the northwest and central regions, and separatist tensions in the southeast. 

SBM Intelligence says tackling the crisis will require cutting off the financial networks that fund armed groups while addressing the poverty and economic instability that help provide a pool of recruits.

 

Security is expected to be a major issue in Nigeria's January elections, when President Bola Tinubu will seek a second term. The latest warning comes after another jihadist attack in Niger state last week left dozens dead and saw scores of people kidnapped.

AP

Related story: Video - A mass kidnapping is testing Nigeria's government

Video - A mass kidnapping is testing Nigeria's government

An armed group has posted a video appearing to show hundreds of people kidnapped from a mosque in Nigeria's Niger State. Sub-Saharan Africa Lead Writer David Lewis explains why the attack is piling pressure on the government of the country.

Reuters

Related stories: Kidnappers release video showing hundreds abducted from Nigerian mosque

President Tinubu orders rescue operation after mass kidnapping at mosque

President Tinubu orders rescue operation after mass kidnapping at mosque

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu ordered the military ​and other security agencies on Tuesday to launch an immediate rescue operation after scores of people were kidnapped by gunmen in north-central Niger State last week.

An armed group posted a ​video on ‌Facebook and WhatsApp showing what residents said were about 600 ⁠women, children and older people abducted during an attack on a mosque in the state.

Reuters could not independently verify ‌the figure, but if confirmed it would rank among Nigeria's largest and most audacious ⁠mass kidnappings in recent years.

An official from Borgu district, where the attack happened, said 30 people had been killed during the attack and were ​buried on Sunday.

The official, who declined to be identified because she ‌was not authorised to speak to the media, said villagers from the communities of Dakera, Gidan-Zana and Sabon Gida were affected.

'We will defend our people'

In its first public comments on ‌the incident, the presidency condemned the attack as cowardly and vowed that those responsible would be brought to justice.

"Terror will not ​cow Nigeria. We will defend our people, protect our communities and uphold the sanctity of human life," Tinubu said in a statement.

Tinubu directed security chiefs to provide regular ​updates on efforts to rescue the abductees and account for all those taken.

Abubakar Umar, the ​traditional head of Dakera community, said at least 2,000 people ​fled into neighbouring Benin Republic following the attack.

Obed Nana, Niger state commissioner for information, told Reuters by phone that authorities were ​still trying to verify the number of missing people.

"I don't want to be too speculative about it because you know how sensitive such information can be," said Nana.

Mass abductions for ransom have become common in parts of northwestern and north-central Nigeria, where heavily armed criminal ⁠gangs frequently raid villages, schools and highways.

The groups often hold captives for weeks or months while demanding ⁠large ransoms and ​have increasingly expanded their operations beyond traditional strongholds in the north.

France24

Kidnappers release video showing hundreds abducted from Nigerian mosque

Kidnappers have released a video of what appears to be a large group of people being held captive by armed men in a forested area in Nigeria.

The video emerged on Sunday, two days after gunmen abducted as many as 600 worshippers during Friday prayers at a mosque in Dekera village in Nigeria’s north-central Niger state.

The incident comes as Nigeria prepares for presidential elections in January, with security likely to be high on the agenda due to a wave of mass kidnappings for ransom across the north of the country.

Dekera village residents have reported that gunmen took people away in simultaneous raids on several communities.

In the video, posted on Facebook and WhatsApp and circulating widely, children can be heard crying. A gunman speaking in the Hausa language speaks directly to families of the captives, telling them to identify relatives.

“These are all your people,” the gunman ⁠says.

News agencies reported that they could not verify the exact date or location where the video was filmed. However, no older version of the video has been found posted online before Sunday.

Residents, including Abdulmutallib Muqaddas Dindi, were able to confirm the identities of some ⁠of the hostages.

“We have identified our elders, relatives, and some of us have seen their wives and children in the video,” he said.

Police and state authorities have not responded to requests for comment.

Amnesty International has urged Nigerian authorities to secure the release of the worshippers, warning of the growing threat posed by mass abductions in northern Nigeria.

State Commissioner for Information and Orientation Obed Nana told the Anadolu news agency that an operation is under way to “assess the situation, track the attackers, and facilitate the rescue of the abducted worshippers”.

Mass abductions for ransom have become common in parts of northwestern and north-central Nigeria, with armed gangs frequently raiding villages, schools and highways and holding abductees until the gangs are paid large sums of money.

Increasingly, the gunmen are targeting communities further south, beyond ‌hot spots in the north.

As he prepares for the election, President Bola Tinubu has faced growing criticism over lax security.

Al Jazeera

At least 25 killed in attack on Nigeria's Plateau amid reprisal fears

At least 25 people were killed in an overnight attack on a ​village in Nigeria's central Plateau state, local officials and ‌residents said on Tuesday, in violence that has heightened fears of violent reprisals in the restive region.

The incident highlights persistent insecurity in Plateau ​state, where tensions between farming communities and herders often ​spiral into retaliatory violence, leaving people dead, displaced ⁠and homeless.

Lemun Le'an Iliya, a councillor representing the area, said ​23 people were killed in the attack and another victim ​later died in hospital.

Resident Amos John said that an additional victim had died, bringing fatalities to at least 25. He said the attackers went ​from house to house, killing residents with machetes, with ​women and children accounting for most of the victims.

Plateau police spokesperson Alfred ‌Alabo ⁠told Reuters officers were deploying to the area and would issue a statement after assessing the situation.

A local group, the Mwaghavul Youth Movement, accused authorities of failing to protect vulnerable communities ​and called ​for a review ⁠of security in the area.

"The recurring destruction of communities, killing of innocent citizens, burning of ​homes and destruction of farmlands cannot continue to ​be ⁠treated as ordinary incidents," spokesperson Tubwot Joël Sunday said.

Plateau, in Nigeria's Middle Belt, has long been plagued by violence linked to ⁠disputes ​over land, grazing rights and resources, ​often compounded by ethnic and religious divisions.

By Hamza Ibrahim and Ahmed Kingimi, Reuters

Authorities say 10 Nigerian police officers were killed in gunbattle with rebels in the north

A gunbattle between rebels and Nigerian security forces has left 10 police officers dead in a remote part of the country’s conflict-battered north, authorities said Tuesday.

The clash, which occurred on Monday in the Sakaba council area of Kebbi state, also left two civilians and 17 of the rebels dead, police spokesperson Bashir Usman said in a statement.

The rebels were heavily armed and riding on motorcycles when they were intercepted by security forces, said Usman. They were seen close to the border with Zamfara state, where armed gangs who frequently raid Nigerian towns and villages are concentrated.

“Tragically, we lost 10 gallant police personnel in the engagement, while two others sustained injuries and are receiving medical attention,” the police spokesman said.

The attack is the latest in a cycle of violence in Africa’s most populous country, where gangs compete for territory and control of natural resources in villages where they outnumber the country’s overstretched security forces. Dozens have been killed in recent weeks across the north, and security forces are often targeted.

The U.S. government is providing military support to Nigeria under an agreement it says aims to protect Nigerian Christians, though much of that support is restricted to logistics and intelligence-gathering at the heart of the violence in the north.

By Dyepkazah Shibayan, AP

Video - Nigeria’s Borno resettles nearly 300,000 IDPs as insecurity persists

More than a decade of insurgency has forced thousands of families in Nigeria’s Borno State from their homes, livelihoods and communities. As security conditions gradually improve, the state is stepping up efforts to resettle nearly 300,000 internally displaced people and close IDP camps.

CGTN Africa

Nigeria cannot build safe schools in unsafe communities

“I am profoundly happy,” Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said after security forces rescued 39 pupils and six teachers who had spent 56 days in captivity. Gunmen had abducted them from three schools in the Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State on May 15.

Their rescue brought immense relief. But it also exposed a deeper failure: More than 12 years after the Chibok abduction prompted Nigeria to make schools safer, dozens of pupils and teachers could still be seized from their schools and held for nearly two months.

On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno State in northeastern Nigeria. The attack captured the world’s attention and became a defining moment in Nigerian history. It led the United Nations, global business leaders and the Nigerian government to launch the Safe Schools Initiative (SSI) the following month, initially covering 500 schools in the northeastern states.

The Oyo abduction, therefore, did more than bring school safety back to the top of the national agenda. It raised serious questions about what the initiative has achieved and whether protecting school grounds alone can keep children safe while a lack of security continues beyond them.

On paper, SSI provides for school perimeter fencing, access control and enhanced security infrastructure as well as local guards and security personnel, community-based early-warning systems, the relocation of at-risk students to safer schools, psychosocial support for survivors and temporary learning centres in camps for internally displaced people.

Since then, Nigeria’s safe-schools framework has been expanded to include all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Some states, such as Lagos and Ogun, have adapted and strengthened its implementation by introducing safety audits and establishing safety committees.

Yet nationally, the initiative has fallen far short of its promise. In June, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project called for an investigation into allegations that funds allocated to SSI had been mismanaged or diverted amid scrutiny of the 145-billion-naira ($106m) financing plan.

According to data in Nigeria’s National Plan on Financing Safe Schools, more than 42,000 primary and secondary schools across northern Nigeria lacked perimeter fencing. The gap between the initiative’s funding commitments and conditions on the ground has raised questions about how SSI has been managed. In July, the Nigerian House of Representatives ordered a comprehensive assessment of the initiative and the national plan, including the use of funds allocated to school-safety measures.

Despite the initiative, attacks on schools and abductions of students and teachers have continued. Thousands of Nigerian students have been abducted by armed groups since 2014. A media tally recorded the abduction of at least 603 students and teachers in seven mass attacks from March 2024 to May 2026 alone.

The consequences extend beyond those directly abducted. In many affected areas, a persistent lack of security has forced schools to remain closed, depriving children of their educations. On July 9, the Kebbi State government reiterated that schools in communities affected by banditry would remain closed until security improved, about seven months after the policy was introduced.

This worsening crisis exposes the failure to implement SSI fully and effectively. Many targeted schools remain outside the programme’s protection or have received upgrades only on paper. Even where physical security measures are in place, they cannot work in isolation.

Building a wall around a school does not prevent armed groups from operating, recruiting or expanding in the surrounding area. Nor does it protect students on their journeys to and from school. Without the initiative’s broader early-warning and community-security measures, fortification leaves the threat intact beyond the school walls.

That wider threat is sustained by economic and governance failures. Armed groups and their local collaborators have different motives, but they thrive under many of the same conditions: high unemployment, extreme poverty, the absence of state authority and the rule of law in rural and border areas, corruption within local government and the security apparatus, and perceived political, economic and social marginalisation.

Effective implementation of SSI also requires sustained funding. In a country where the education sector is already severely underfunded, SSI can succeed only if governments budget not merely for walls, gates and surveillance systems but also for trained personnel, maintenance and emergency response. Without sustained funding, these systems will deteriorate and leave schools vulnerable once again.

Fortification can also carry psychological and educational costs. A school, at its core, is an open community space for learning and growth. Transforming schools into something resembling “fortified prisons” or miniature military barracks can create an environment of constant fear and apprehension among students, negatively affecting their academic performance and mental health and weakening the schools’ role as centres of community life.

The answer is not to abandon SSI but to place it within a broader strategy. Schools cannot be protected in isolation from the roads, forests and communities surrounding them.

A sustainable solution to a lack of security at schools lies in comprehensive community security. This means reforming Nigeria’s security sector, integrating schools into local early-warning networks, improving relations between security forces and citizens, and extending effective state protection into areas where armed groups operate. It also requires economic development to address the entrenched poverty and unemployment that armed groups exploit, alongside efforts to combat terrorism and extremist recruitment.

Nigeria’s schools cannot be secure while the communities around them remain unsafe.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

By Hakeem Najimdeen, CEO of Alafarika for Studies and Consultancy, Nigeria, Al Jazeera

Armed attackers kill more than 20 in northwest Nigeria

At least 20 people have been killed in northwest Nigeria after armed gang members attacked villages in Zamfara State, according to the AFP news agency.

“Today, between 3pm [14:00 GMT] and 4pm [15:00 GMT], a large number of bandits have invaded our communities, targeting all the people they meet,” Nasiru Lauwali, the representative of the Sauna district in the local government zone of Talata Mafara, told AFP on Wednesday.

The attacks come amid increasing violence in northwest and central Nigeria, where armed gangs or bandits have raided villages in recent weeks. They are accused of stealing livestock and kidnapping residents for ransom.

Late on Tuesday, at least three suspected bandits were killed by security forces in the country’s Kwara State, according to Nigeria’s The Punch news website. The news service said that security forces managed to rescue a businessman, Tuhkur Sanni.

Kidnappings have become common in Nigeria, as armed groups seek large ransoms from the government and citizens.

The situation has been worsened by a security crisis, partly fuelled by the Boko Haram rebellion in the country’s northeast. In 2024, attackers earned more than $1.6m in ransom payments, according to SBM Intelligence.

Dozens of students and teachers were rescued earlier this month, 56 days after they were kidnapped from three schools in the southwestern state of Oyo.

Eight of the suspected kidnappers were arrested and an unspecified number were killed, according to a statement issued by President Bola Tinubu.

Defence Minister Christopher Musa said the suspects planned to use the hostages as leverage to pressure the government to release some of their commanders from prison.

AFP

Video - Rising food insecurity is pushing more children into malnutrition in northern Nigeria

Communities in northern Nigeria are facing a growing nutrition crisis, as health workers report an increase in child malnutrition linked to worsening food insecurity. The country's economic hardship, compounded by global shocks and rising food prices associated with the conflict in the Middle East, is leaving many families unable to afford adequate meals.

CGTN Africa

Video - 'We're living in fear': 19 million children in Nigeria are out of school to avoid kidnappings

The 46 children and teachers that were abducted on May 15th in southwestern state of Oyo were rescued and reunited with their families on July 10th. Since the dramatic abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls in 2014, Nigeria has been hit with waves of mass kidnappings from schools. 27% of children in Nigeria are out of school, one of the highest rates in the world. The threat of abduction serves as one of the biggest obstacles to children pursuing their education.

France24

Children describe how Nigerian militants moving south are seizing more young captives

Aliyu Saheed feared he might not see his three young sons again. For nearly two months after al-Qaida-linked fighters carried out a mass abduction of schoolchildren in an area of Nigeria formerly free of such attacks, he could hardly sleep at night.

He wondered what the boys were doing in captivity and how his youngest, just 5 years old, would survive.

“The day they told us they had been rescued was the happiest day of my life,” the farmer told The Associated Press, as children returned to the community on Friday to feasting and prayers led by pastors and Islamic clerics.

His boys were among dozens of students abducted from their classrooms in Oriire area of southwestern Oyo state on May 15 before being rescued on July 10.

Children as young as 3 were seized in the attack that awakened many Nigerians to a threat that has been moving south through Africa’s most populous nation in the last year. Competition for territory and control of natural resources has intensified among jihadis and other armed groups as they expand beyond the conflict-battered north to areas largely spared until now.

Nigeria’s forests are used for militants’ expansion

The armed men stormed into the agrarian community and took 39 children from three schools. They were marched, along with teachers, into a vast forest reserve nearby. One teacher was killed in the abduction. Two others were killed in captivity, according to local media.

The forest reserve connects to neighboring Kwara state to the north, which borders northern Nigeria and its long history of mass abductions of students by armed groups, often for ransom. Analysts say children and schools are often seen as strategic targets to draw more attention and higher ransoms.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has said the attackers in Oyo state were Ansaru militants, a breakaway faction of the Boko Haram militant group that claims to defend the interests of Islam and has been more active in recent years.

Authorities said the rescue operation was carried out jointly by the military, intelligence agency and police, and that eight kidnappers were arrested while others were killed.

The abduction turned attention to Nigeria’s lightly policed forest reserves and their use as a corridor and hiding area for armed groups.

“The thing to learn is that the forested areas of the country must be much better surveilled because that is where those armed groups operate and keep their victims,” said Joachim MacEbong, a senior analyst at global risk consultancy firm Control Risks.

Children described being bound and beaten

In interviews with the AP, the children and their parents spoke of horrid conditions in captivity. They said their captors left them in the open without shelter, exposing them to sun and rain.

Saheed’s eldest son, 9-year-old Shuaib, said he and his brothers tried to distract themselves by thinking about the comfort of home and their mother’s cooking. They were fed a basic meal of boiled rice and palm oil, he recalled.

“I could not say anything for fear of getting beaten,” he said. “They flogged us with a cane all over the body, and they hit me in the back with the butt of their gun.”

The militants beat the youngest children the worst and muffled their mouths with cloth so that their cries would not attract attention, Alamu Folawe, the head of one of the schools, told journalists.

Families said some children now have physical scars, and many are still recuperating psychologically.

Aduke Balogun’s daughter, 8-year-old Kehinde Kaosarat, was one of the last to be discharged from the hospital. She has not left her mother’s side since she returned home on Friday.

While in captivity, the girl said, she could not eat or sleep because “I kept imagining the worst things.”

Abducted siblings Jacob and Mary told their parents after their release that they didn’t want to return to school, said their father, Gabriel Sunday.

It’s a common concern after such kidnappings in a country that already has one of the world’s highest numbers of children out of school.

“Sending them back to the school does not sound meaningful to me right now,” said Saheed, the father of the three boys.

The spread to the south increases pressure on leaders

Tinubu, elected in 2023 after promising to end the country’s security woes, has come under growing pressure. The U.S. military is supporting Nigerian forces, though much of that is restricted to logistics and intelligence-gathering at the heart of the violence in the north.

Although Tinubu said the Ansaru militants’ network of informants was dismantled during the rescue operation, analysts say the drivers of insecurity, such as corruption and poor governance, remain. And Nigeria’s overstretched security forces are mostly absent in remote communities.

James Barnett, a research fellow with U.S.-based Hudson Institute who specializes in security in Africa, said Ansaru has been building networks in Nigeria’s southwest for many years.

Experts say an attack regarded as successful could inspire more.

Some residents now hesitate to return

Friday’s celebration of the children’s return drew the community of Christians and Muslims together for dancing and a meal to express their gratitude.

“We have all come here to thank God for protecting the children and their teachers and helping the military men who rescued them,” said Tajudeen Abioye, the village chief.

Many residents left the area after the attack but have started trickling back. Although security forces deployed following the mass abduction are still in the area, locals remain anxious, especially farmers whose farms are close to the forest reserve.

“The rescue of the Oriire abductees is wonderful news and should inspire some confidence in Nigeria’s ability to better manage these threats. But it is not the end of insecurity in the southwest or Nigeria as a whole,” Barnett said.

By Pelumi Salako, AP

Dozens of abducted schoolchildren and teachers rescued in Nigeria

Two months after they were abducted in southwestern Nigeria, dozens of students and teachers have been rescued, the presidency says.

In a statement on Friday, President Bola Tinubu said he was “profoundly happy” that Nigeria’s security agencies had rescued the students and teachers, 56 days after they were kidnapped from three schools in the southwestern state of Oyo.

Eight of the assailants have been arrested and an unspecified number have been killed, Tinubu added.

On May 15, 46 students and staff were kidnapped from two primary schools and one secondary school. The government has blamed the kidnappings on Boko Haram.

The youngest child taken was aged two, while the oldest was 16. One of the teachers was killed shortly after the abduction.

In a post on X, presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga said all of the students and teachers had been rescued.

School kidnappings have become common in Nigeria, as armed groups seek large ransoms from the government and citizens.

The situation has been worsened by a security crisis, partly fuelled by the Boko Haram rebellion in the country’s northeast. In 2024, gunmen earned more than $1.6m in ransom payments, according to SBM Intelligence.

“This successful military operation has ended the siege and standoff of over 50 days and has brought relief to the entire nation and the affected families in particular,” Tinubu said in his statement.

“On behalf of the country, I express my gratitude to the officers and men of our armed forces, the intelligence agencies and the police for the safe rescue of the children and their teachers.”

Prior to the May 15 attack, the majority of school kidnappings had taken place in northern Nigeria. The abductions in Oyo, in the southwest, have prompted concerns that the security crisis could be worsening.

It is not clear exactly how the students and staff were rescued, but Onanuga said there “was no quid pro quo in the rescue”.

Earlier this week, Defence Minister Christopher Musa said the assailants planned to use the hostages as leverage to pressure the government to release some of their commanders from prison.

Al Jazeera

Northern Nigeria’s hunger hits worst level in almost a decade as 17 million face food insecurity, UN seeks $89 million

The UN agency warned on Thursday that the country’s food security situation is deteriorating faster than previously anticipated, saying it urgently needs $89 million over the next six months to sustain food, nutrition and logistics support across northern Nigeria.

According to WFP, the latest Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis shows that more than 17 million people across nine conflict-affected northern states are experiencing crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity, almost two million more than projected in the previous assessment.

“Conflict is driving hunger in some northern states, particularly the northeast, to levels not seen in almost a decade,” the agency said in the statement.

The situation is particularly severe in Borno State, where renewed insurgent attacks and cuts to humanitarian assistance have left more than three million people acutely food insecure.

More than 750,000 people are experiencing severe hunger, while over 10,000 people have fallen into catastrophic hunger, the highest level of food insecurity.

“What concerns us most is how this crisis is expanding,” said Kinday Samba, WFP Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

“For years, insurgent attacks and violence were largely concentrated in parts of northeast Nigeria. Today, they are spreading across a much wider area and forcing people from farmland, driving displacement and restricting humanitarian access, meaning hunger is quick to follow.”


Humanitarian operations under strain

WFP said deteriorating security and severe funding shortages are making it increasingly difficult to reach vulnerable communities.

The number of locations inaccessible to frontline humanitarian workers has doubled, with 15 additional areas now classified as partially inaccessible.

Attacks and illegal checkpoints along major transport corridors are also disrupting the movement of relief supplies, while in several locations WFP’s air transport service remains the only reliable means of delivering aid.

Funding shortages have meanwhile forced the agency to scale back operations dramatically.

Although 6.2 million people are currently food insecure across Nigeria’s three northeastern states, WFP said it has sufficient resources to assist only about 740,000 people, leaving approximately 5.5 million people, many of them children, without life-saving food and nutrition support.

The figure marks a sharp decline from the 1.3 million people WFP supported during the peak of the 2025 lean season.

The agency warned that shrinking food assistance is pushing vulnerable households towards desperate coping strategies, with some communities reporting cases of people joining armed groups in search of food or income.

It also said the suspension of food assistance in some displacement camps due to funding shortages has contributed to rising exploitation and gender-based violence, particularly affecting women and children.

“When people lose access to food, the risks of displacement, exploitation and instability increase. Yet resources are at their lowest at the time they are needed most,” Samba said.


How Nigeria got here

The latest assessment comes as insecurity continues to spread beyond Nigeria’s traditional insurgency hotspots, disrupting farming, forcing communities from their land and worsening food production across parts of the north.

The crisis has been compounded by rising climate shocks, high transportation costs and elevated food prices, making basic staples increasingly unaffordable for millions of households.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, food inflation remained above 16% in May 2026, underscoring the continued pressure on household purchasing power.

The WFP said the latest Cadre Harmonisé assessment focused on conflict hotspots in northern Nigeria following an escalation in attacks since the previous analysis released in November.

Overall, 36.2 million people across Nigeria are now food insecure, highlighting that the country’s food crisis extends well beyond the areas most affected by conflict.

Without fresh funding, WFP warned it may be forced to reduce operations further, increasing the risk of deeper hunger, fresh displacement and greater instability across northern Nigeria.

By Ayodeji Adegboyega, Business Insider Africa

More than 30 students remain missing after Nigeria school attack

At least 37 students remain missing after gunmen raided their school in northeast Nigeria, according to local officials.

The attack occurred on Monday when assailants from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group stormed a secondary school in the town of Lassa, in Borno State, which has faced years of violence by armed groups.

The AFP news agency reported on Tuesday that at least 37 students remain missing following the attack, which occurred while they were sitting exams.

At least three people were killed in the attack, including a soldier and a teacher, according to the military, who initially said that authorities had rescued 10 of them and that only one remained missing.

The “list of students in captivity”, showing the students’ genders and their parents’ mobile phone numbers, was shared with journalists by the area’s local government councillor, Ijagla Ijabila.

An intel source also showed AFP the same list.

Borno Commissioner for Education Lawan Abba Wakilbe told reporters in Lassa that 25 female students, 11 male students and one staff member were still being held, reported the Reuters news agency.

Abba Wakilbe added that eight people, including the school’s vice principal, have been freed.

Kidnapping for ransom, especially of students, has become a common tactic for both armed groups and non-ideological “bandit” gangs operating across the country’s conflict-hit north and centre.

While the 2014 kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls from the town of Chibok by members of Boko Haram remains Nigeria’s most infamous, school abductions continue to be prevalent across the country.

In May, gunmen kidnapped more than 40 pupils – who remain in captivity – from Borno State’s Mussa village.

That same month, armed men rounded up dozens of schoolchildren from three schools in Oyo State – a rare attack in southwest Nigeria, considered to be the safest region in the country.

Nigeria has been fighting an armed uprising since 2009, concentrated in the northeast.

While violence has waned since the peak of the conflict a decade ago, analysts have warned of an uptick in attacks since last year.

By AFP and Reuters

Related story: Gunmen abduct students during exams in Nigeria

Gunmen abduct students during exams in Nigeria

Gunmen stormed a secondary school in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state on Monday morning and abducted students while they were sitting national examinations, police said.

The attack took place at Government Day Secondary School in the town of Lassa, where teenagers aged around 16 to 17 were taking exams when armed attackers burst in and opened fire.

Nigeria’s military said troops tracked the attackers and engaged them in a firefight, during which one soldier and one member of a paramilitary support force were killed.

Officials said 10 students and teachers were rescued during the operation and were found unharmed. They are now receiving care.

However, authorities confirmed that several students remain missing, and the total number of those abducted is still being verified.

Borno police spokesperson Nahum Kenneth Daso said security agencies, including the military and police, were searching nearby forests in an effort to locate and rescue the missing students.

Military spokesperson Captain Mohammed Goni said search operations were continuing.

Insecurity in Borno state

The attack highlights the ongoing security challenges in Nigeria’s northeast, particularly in Borno state, which remains the centre of a long-running insurgency.

Armed groups, including Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have operated in the region for more than 15 years, carrying out attacks on civilians, schools, and security forces.

Nigeria continues to face multiple overlapping security threats beyond the northeast insurgency, including mass kidnappings for ransom by armed gangs and recurring communal violence in other regions.

School abductions have become a recurring tactic in parts of the country, fuelling fear among communities and disrupting education in already vulnerable areas.

By Fidan Sayyadli, Reuters

Related story: Nigerian army frees widow of ex-general who died in captivity