The 15th of May marks a grim day for parents, teachers, students, and ultimately all Nigerians, as 39 schoolchildren (aged between 2-16) and seven teachers were abducted by kidnappers. One teacher by the name of Michael Oyedokun was beheaded, and the rest of the group carted away. Commonly known as “unknown gunmen”, these groups have been responsible for the plaguing epidemic of kidnapping currently spreading across Nigeria.
Kidnapping has seen a significant increase, with The Guardian reporting over 2.2 million recorded cases over one year. This criminal enterprise has gained prominence amongst what are said to have been disbanded members of the terrorist group Boko Haram, now turned kidnappers and unknown gunmen across several parts of the country.
What was once a campaign of ideological terror against western education has since matured into a lucrative industry; security expert Professor Oyesoji Aremu reported that an estimated 2.2 trillion in Nigerian Naira (roughly £1.2 billion) has been extracted through ransom payments. Despite witnessing a significant decrease in bomb-related activities, kidnapping has become common, with schoolchildren the victims.
On the night of the 14th to the 15th of April 2014, the Chibok girls were kidnapped from their school by Boko Haram. This occurred in the north-eastern part of Nigeria, in Borno State. The case gained prominence amongst local and international bodies; worldwide campaigns such as the “Bring Back Our Girls” movement were born out of this.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) found Nigeria responsible for human rights violations against women and girls amidst the surge of mass abductions. The Committee considered Nigeria’s “failure to protect schoolgirls … from abductions” to amount to “systematic and grave violations”. Governments were criticised, fingers were pointed and promises were made.
The government continued to give promises of the girls coming home and a situation like this never happening again. Some of the girls did come home and situations like this have become systemic. It seems to Nigerians that this loop keeps repeating.
A decade later, they return, but not the children. And the intent still stands. The Chibok abduction did not stop as a one-time event; it became a blueprint. In February 2018, over 100 schoolgirls were abducted from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State; one of them, Leah Sharibu, remains in captivity to this day, reportedly held because she refused to renounce her Christian faith.
In December 2020, over 300 boys were taken from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State, a mass abduction carried out by the armed bandit group popularly referred to as “unknown gunmen”, (although Boko haram claimed responsibility) thus signaling that the crisis had migrated well beyond its original geography.
By March 2021, students at Greenfield University in Kaduna State were targeted, this time in a private institution, demonstrating that no school, public or private, remains exempt. Spreading from the north down to the western parts of the country, more children and teachers continue to be taken, and still the cycle repeats.
The old terrorists that plagued the north have somewhat faded into the background, as pseudo-names have emerged to replace a once-feared name. “Kidnappers”, “unknown gunmen”, “Yan Bindiga”, “Fulani herdsmen”; the branding of the terrorist groups,their methods remain the same.
The authorities have resorted to promising the “rescue” of these children. It has not come. Days later, on the 7th of June, more civilians were abducted in Zamfara State.
The warnings were there. Examples seen in Chibok, dapchi and Kankara. The geography of these attacks has changed. If the Nigerian government continues to fail in protecting people these attacks may continue.
Edited by Scott Raffan