The Nigerian government is scrambling to respond following a wave of abductions and attacks, including one in which more than 300 schoolchildren were seized. This, along with the announcement that a priest who was kidnapped along with his wife was confirmed dead, has led President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to declare a national emergency.
In a statement issued this week, Tinubu ordered the recruitment of 20,000 new police officers, in addition to the 30,000 previously approved, and called for their rapid deployment to areas plagued by armed violence, the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported.
He also approved the recruitment of forest guards under the Department of State Services and said state-run security outfits would receive federal support.
The president instructed police personnel to be withdrawn from VIP duties and reassigned to operational roles. He also called for a ban on open cattle grazing and said herders must surrender illegal arms.
Places of worship were urged to seek security protection, and state governments were advised against placing boarding schools in remote, unsecured areas.
Meanwhile, the Rev. Edwin Achi of the Anglican Diocese of Kaduna was confirmed dead on Wednesday, a month after being abducted from his home in Nissi, Kaduna State, along with his wife, Sarah. Church of Nigeria officials announced his death in a press statement, saying, “His transition is a painful loss to the entire Diocese, the clergy, the church family and all who were blessed by his faithful ministry.”
The priest and his wife were kidnapped on Oct. 28, and a photo showing them seated among other hostages was released shortly before Achi’s death. Their captors had demanded a ransom of 600 million naira ($415,000), Morning Star News reported.
The couple’s daughter was also abducted but wasn’t shown in the proof-of-life image. According to the latest updates, Sarah Achi remains in captivity.
Tinubu’s declaration followed a heated Senate debate on the growing insecurity, in which lawmakers described kidnapping as a form of terrorism and recommended capital punishment for perpetrators. Legislators also raised concerns over inadequate equipment, insufficient intelligence support and troubling infiltration of the armed forces.
Former Deputy Speaker Idris Wase told the Senate that North-Central Nigeria bore over half of the country’s violence, and warned that names of known Boko Haram militants and criminals had been found on lists of army and police recruits.
Among the cases cited during the debates was the Nov. 21 abduction of 303 students and 12 teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School in the Papiri community of Niger State. Most of the victims were children between the ages of 9 and 14. Armed men on motorcycles stormed the dormitories before dawn.
CSW reported that 253 students remain missing.
Three days after the mass kidnapping, a man identified as Anthony Musa, father to three of the abducted children, died of a heart attack that might have been sparked by the trauma.
Other abductions reported in the last two weeks include the Nov. 17 kidnapping of 26 girls from a government school in Maga, Kebbi State. President Tinubu announced on Nov. 25 that 24 of them had been released, though no terms were disclosed. Two of the girls had escaped in the hours after the attack.
On Nov. 21, gunmen attacked a church service in Eruku, Kwara State, killing two worshipers and kidnapping 38. Officials confirmed on Nov. 23 that the hostages had been freed, again without elaborating on the conditions of their release.
On Wednesday evening, armed men raided two homes in Gidan-Bijimi, a community in the capital’s Bwari Area Council, and kidnapped six girls and a 16-year-old boy. In a separate incident that day, about 20 farmers, including four pregnant women and several children, were abducted in Unguwan-Kawo, Niger State.
Security analysts and rights groups attribute the rise in kidnappings to a mix of extremist groups, criminal gangs and armed Fulani militias.
The U.K. Parliament’s All-Party Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief stated that militants in Nigeria’s North regularly attack Christian communities, with Boko Haram, ISWAP and Fulani extremists among the key actors.
A new group known as Lakurawa has also emerged in the northwest. The World Watch List 2025 report from Open Doors noted that the group, which is linked to al-Qaeda’s Sahel-based affiliate JNIM, is armed with advanced weaponry and adheres to a radical Islamist ideology. Of the 4,476 Christians reported killed for their faith worldwide during the reporting period, 3,100 were in Nigeria.
