Amnesty International (AI) announced on Friday that over 400 persons, including men, women, and children, had been kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria.
While confirming the kidnapping on Friday, President Bola Tinubu did not disclose the exact number of victims. The victims, according to AI, are internally displaced people (IDP) from the Arabic IDP camps in Gamboru Ngala, Borno State, and Babban Sansani, Zulum. According to HumAngle, Babagana Zulum, the governor of Borno State, stated on Thursday that the administration has not yet determined the precise number of those kidnapped.
Terrorists kidnapped around 200 students from a public school in Kaduna State, northwest Nigeria, the same week as the mass kidnapping.
“The latest mass abductions clearly show President Bola Tinubu and his government have no effective plan for ending years of atrocities by armed groups and gunmen that are increasingly having a free reign across many parts of Nigeria. Whatever security measures being implemented by President Tinubu and his government are clearly not working,” said Isa Sanusi, the director of Amnesty International Nigeria.
Additionally, it was stated that President Tinubu ordered security services to ensure the victims’ release on Friday, condemning both the Borno and Kaduna student abductions.
Amnesty International said in a statement that the kidnappings in Borno and Kuriga, Kaduna State on Thursday, which involved 287 students and teachers, demonstrate the Nigerian government’s “persistent failure” to defend the populace against armed group attacks that have resulted in thousands of deaths for Nigerians over the past five years.
The rights organisation further denounced the widespread kidnappings that seem to be returning after a few months’ hiatus and requested that the Nigerian government take all necessary steps to guarantee the safe release of every individual kidnapped.
The group also bemoaned the growing insecurity, pointing out that it indicates that the government does not place a high premium on preserving people’s lives and property.
Additionally, according to Amnesty International, “the glaring failures that have put lives of hundreds of people in danger” should be held accountable for those in charge of security in the locations where the kidnappings occurred.
“Authorities must also promptly, thoroughly, impartially, independently, effectively, and transparently investigate the recurring cases of abductions in many parts of the country, make public the findings of any investigation and ensure that the suspected perpetrators are brought to justice in fair trials,” it said.
“People should not be left to live in fear of the next attack or abduction. The Nigerian authorities’ consistent failure to protect people is completely unacceptable and must end.”
Nigeria has seen multiple major kidnappings since Boko Haram’s 2014 abduction of 276 schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, especially in the country’s unstable northeast, where terrorists from the group are active, and its northwest, where robbery is rampant.
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