Nigeria: More than 80 people kidnapped, mostly women, in two separate attacks

More than 80 people, mostly women, were abducted by armed gangs in two separate attacks on Saturday and Sunday in northern Nigeria, a country plagued for years by mass kidnappings for ransom.

On Saturday, at least 47 farmers, including many women, were abducted by armed gangs while harvesting peanuts on their farms in Niger State.

Forty other women were abducted the following day in the neighboring state of Zamfara, according to two security reports seen by AFP and a local source.

Armed men on motorcycles, members of gangs specializing in kidnapping for ransom and cattle rustling, locally called "bandits", have been terrorizing rural communities in northwestern and central Nigeria for years.

These groups regularly carry out bloody raids on villages, killing inhabitants and burning down houses after looting them.

According to a local source, at least forty-seven farmers, mostly women, were abducted on Saturday by bandits from their farms in Rimi, an agricultural community located in the Mariga Local Government Area of Niger State.

According to the same source, the captives are being held in the Ma'undu forest and the bandits "have not yet contacted the families or demanded a ransom".

The attack was confirmed in a security report prepared for humanitarian organizations and seen by AFP. However, the report did not specify the number of people abducted.

"Armed bandits coming from the Zamfara border entered the Mariga Local Government Area with approximately 50 motorcycles via the Mongoro–Kotonkoro road, heading towards Kasuwan Garba and Ma'undu," the report states. "The bandits then dispersed to different locations," according to the same source.

- Ransoms -

On Sunday, armed men abducted 40 women in Yargada, in the Gusau constituency, in Zamfara State, according to a security report prepared for the UN and seen by AFP.

Armed men also "killed one person, injured several others, burned six vehicles and looted several stores", the report details.

Kidnappings have become a vital source of income for criminal groups in Africa's most populous country, particularly for jihadists and armed gangs of "bandits".

These gangs, motivated by financial gain rather than ideology, sometimes collaborate with jihadists who have spread from their strongholds in the Northeast.

Some 7.78 billion naira ($5.8 million) in ransom was paid to these groups between July 2025 and June 2026, more than triple the 2.56 billion naira paid over the same period the previous year, according to a report by Lagos-based consultancy firm SBM Intelligence.

At least 7,825 people were abducted then, 66% more than at the same time last year, according to SBM figures.

Insecurity and the economy are at the heart of the presidential campaign that has just begun in Nigeria. Next January, President Bola Tinubu will seek a second term.