Security forces on Friday swept through swaths of forest in Nigeria’s northwestern region, searching for nearly 300 children abducted from their schools by gunmen on motorcycles in the latest mass abductions that analysts and activists blame on intelligence failures and Security services were slow to respond.
The abduction of 287 children in Kaduna state near the West African country’s capital is one of the largest school abductions in the decade since the kidnapping of a schoolgirl in Chibok village in Borno state in 2014 that shocked the world. Analysts and activists say security gaps that led to mass kidnappings remain.
Locals in the town of Kuriga, 89 kilometers from Kaduna city, said the victims of the latest attack – at least 100 children aged 12 or younger among them – were surrounded and marched into the forest at the start of school. School authorities say a man was shot while trying to save a student.
On Thursday, Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani and security officials met with aggrieved villagers who begged the governor to ensure the release of the students and make their town safe – like many in the region, Once a bustling farming community, it is now sparsely populated and roads are often avoided due to rampant kidnappings.
“Please stay and help us, please don’t leave us,” one woman cried as the governor’s motorcade sped away.
Kaduna police spokesman Mansour Hassan told The Associated Press that searches were being conducted in nearby forests, which often become enclaves of armed gangs.
“All security agencies are trying their best to ensure that the children are rescued,” Hassan said.
Joshua Madami, a youth leader in the area, said the school, which had no fence, was “surrounded from all angles” by gunmen who arrived on motorcycles just after 8am.
Locals said security forces did not arrive until hours later, raising concerns among families and analysts that the gunman may have taken the children deeper into the forest.
Confidence MacHarry, a security analyst at SBM Intelligence in Lagos, said such delayed responses were common and worsened the situation in hotspots in addition to failing to act on intelligence.
“I am confident that the victims will be rescued,” said Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who was elected last year after promising to end the country’s kidnapping crisis. “For me and the waiting families, nothing is acceptable. .”
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but locals blame them on so-called bandits, who frequently carry out mass killings and kidnappings for huge ransoms in remote villages in Nigeria’s northwest and central regions.
The bandits are mostly herders who are in conflict with local communities. They are distinct from the Islamic extremist insurgents, who have kidnapped more than 200 people in recent days, mostly women and children.
James Barnett, a researcher at the US-based Hudson Institute who specializes in West Africa, said school kidnappings in northern Nigeria have declined since early last year, but the structural conditions that led to kidnappings still exist. He said the bandits were focused on consolidating their influence over rural communities, often in the form of taxes.
“We’ve seen bandits become more aggressive since the start of the year,” Barnett said. “This attack may be an attempt by some gangs to signal to the government that they can turn the clock back to 2021, when mass kidnappings led to Northwest schools closed.
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