More than 80 people abducted in two weekend attacks in northern Nigeria

At least 87 people, mostly women, are missing after being abducted by armed gangs in two separate weekend attacks in northern Nigeria, the AFP news agency reported on Monday.

At least 47 farmers were seized by armed men while harvesting peanuts in Niger state on Saturday, and 40 women were kidnapped in the neighbouring state of Zamfara on Sunday, according to two security reports seen by AFP and a local source.

A local source said the 47 farmers, most of them women, were taken from Rimi, an agricultural community in the Mariga area of Niger state, while the women kidnapped on Sunday were taken from Yargada, in the Gusau area of Zamfara. Adamu Lawwali, a resident of Magama Mairake, told AFP the bandits had been burning homes in his village, and said the attack was carried out in reprisal after local vigilantes had killed a number of bandits.

The attackers are members of criminal gangs, locally known as “bandits”, who specialise in ransom kidnappings and cattle rustling and regularly raid villages across northwestern and central Nigeria.

Separately, police in the southeastern state of Abia announced on Sunday that they had found 28 human skulls and bones “suspected to be [of kidnapped] victims” after raiding camps linked to criminal groups in forests, with suspects at the scene having fled.

Research from Lagos-based consultancy SBM Intelligence shows armed groups raised some 7.8 billion naira (nearly $6 million) in ransom payments between July 2025 and June 2026, more than triple the 2.6 billion naira paid in the same period a year earlier.

The latest wave of kidnappings comes a few months before January’s presidential elections, in which security is set to be a major issue. President Bola Tinubu has faced growing criticism over lax security.

Sources

• Al Jazeera — “More than 80 reported abducted in Nigeria as police find human remains” (29 Sept 2026)
• Bangkok Post/AFP — “Dozens kidnapped in two weekend attacks in northern Nigeria” (29 Sept 2026)