Pleas to free hostages in Nigeria after more abductions

Christian groups are pleading with the Nigerian government to do more to guard civilians from abductions and free those already in captivity. 

The call has been issued after reports of no less than 600 people, including women and youngsters, being kidnapped in Nigeria last week alone. 

Many of the kidnapping victims were living in camps for internally displaced individuals within the northern state of Borno. 

In a separate incident, no less than 287 students and teachers were kidnapped by armed herders from a faculty in Kuriga, Kaduna State. 

The timing is especially sensitive as next month will mark the tenth anniversary of the kidnapping of 276 girls from their school in Chibok by the Boko Haram terrorist group. While some were released and others escaped, around 100 remain in captivity a decade on. 

Jabez Musa, a Nigerian lawyer and partner of Open Doors whose real name has been modified for security reasons, says there was an increase in kidnappings within the country. 

“Abductions have been happening one here one other there, but this is sort of different now. Our government has not reacted yet. We are waiting to listen to from them to see what they will do,” he said. 

Open Doors said these were “not isolated incidents” because it accused the Nigerian government of “failing to discharge its duty to guard its residents from violence and attacks”. 

“Attacks and kidnappings – particularly within the north of Nigeria – have seriously worsened over the past decade. Christians are amongst those that are especially targeted,” a spokesperson said, adding, “Arms proliferation, impunity and government inaction has allowed the expansion of Boko Haram and increasing violence within the north of Nigeria, where attacks by armed bandits on villages and schools have gotten endemic.”

CEO of Open Doors UK and Ireland, Henrietta Blyth, has issued an urgent appeal to the Nigerian president to free the victims. 

“Boko Haram is notorious for targeting Christians, abducting and killing men and abducting, raping and forcibly marrying women and girls,” she said. 

“We also urge the Nigerian government to work to get the hostages already held by Boko Haram liberated – including young Christian girls resembling Leah Sharibu and the Chibok girls who’re still held captive.”

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said over 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria as a result of religious persecution over the past 15 years, amounting to a Christian dying every two hours on average. 

It said it was “deeply concerned” by the resurgence in mass abductions by terrorist organisations within the country.

CSW’s founder president Mervyn Thomas called for the “swift and protected return” of scholars and for more to be done to guard children from kidnappings.

“It is deeply disturbing that, once more, children simply in search of an education are being treated as commodities to be seized en masse and bartered,” he said. 

He continued, “For over a decade terrorist groups, including a militia comprising assailants primarily of Fulani ethnicity, have been in a position to conduct violent attacks and abductions for ransom across Nigeria on an almost each day basis while eliciting an entirely inadequate response from the authorities.

“We subsequently urge the present federal administration to change into much more proactive in addressing Nigeria’s critical security situation by sufficiently resourcing and mandating the armed forces to tackle every insurgency, to liberate all who remain in terrorist captivity, and most crucially, to make sure protection for schools and vulnerable communities.”