Pastor, bride among 26 kidnapped in separate raids across Nigeria

In the latest wave of mass kidnappings in the country, armed groups have abducted 26 people including a pastor and a bride in two separate incidents in Nigeria.

In Kogi State, in central Nigeria, a criminal gang stormed a remote church in the Ejiba area on Sunday, seizing the pastor and 11 worshippers, the state’s information commissioner told AFP.

A day earlier in Sokoto State in the northeast, a bride and 10 of her bridesmaids were among 14 people taken during an overnight raid on the village of Chacho, a local resident said.

Nigeria has seen a surge in mass kidnappings in recent weeks, with armed groups abducting hundreds of people for ransom. The country continues to face security threats from both jihadist factions and criminal gangs commonly referred to as “bandits”.

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The growing instability has intensified pressure on the government, especially after former US president Donald Trump warned of possible military action over what he claims is the killing of Christians by radical Islamist groups.

Amid the escalating crisis, President Bola Tinubu declared a nationwide emergency on Wednesday.

Kingsley Femi Fanwo, Kogi State’s information commissioner, blamed Sunday’s church raid on bandits, and urged isolated places of worship to “reconsider worshipping in crime prone areas for now until the situation gets better”.

“The police helicopter has arrived for land and air battle to free the abducted worshippers,” Fanwo told AFP.

“I just got confirmation that 12 people are missing, though they are still looking for some missing persons,” he added.

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In the separate raid in Chacho, a baby, the baby’s mother and another woman were also taken among the 14 people kidnapped, local resident Aliyu Abdullahi told AFP.

- ‘Kidnap for ransom’ -

Abductions became more widespread in Nigeria after the jihadist group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 teenage girls in Chibok, in the northeast, sparking an international outcry.

Besides radical Islamists, bandit gangs have also sown violence across swathes of northwest and central Nigeria, where they carry out kidnappings for ransom, attack villages, kill their inhabitants and burn houses after looting them.

According to Abdullahi, Chacho had already been targeted in October by bandits, who kidnapped 13 people.

“We had to pay ransom to secure the freedom. Now, we are faced with the same situation,” he told AFP over the phone.

A Nigerian intelligence report seen by AFP confirmed the Chacho attack.

The report suggested that deals struck by neighbouring states in the hopes of getting the bandits to agree to stop their activities may be partly responsible for an uptick in abductions in November.

Security experts argue that such agreement allow gangs to entrench themselves in their hideouts while continuing their raids elsewhere.

“As a result, some bandits may be moving into areas with less military pressure. This shift can lead to more mass kidnappings in places like Sokoto, leading to an increase in mass kidnap-for-ransom attacks,” the report added.

Following the rise in kidnappings and attacks, Trump threatened Nigeria at the start of November with military action, claiming that Nigerian Christians were being persecuted.

Nigeria has rejected that claim, insisting that the country’s various security crises have left more Muslims dead.

The religiously diverse country of 230 million people is the scene of long-brewing conflicts that have killed both Christians and Muslims, often indiscriminately.

With inputs from agencies