Lifestyle
5 Unforgettable Kidnappping Cases In Nigeria
EKO HOT BLOG
There have been multiple cases of abductions in Nigeria over the years.. These are some of the most memorable kidnapping cases
Kankara schoolboys kidnapping
In the evening of December 11, 2020, a gang of gunmen on motorcycles reportedly invaded the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, where over 800 pupils resided.
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), was said to be around in his home town of Daura, Katsina State when the attack occurred.
In the operation that reportedly lasted about an hour, the school’s security personnel were said to have repelled the gunmen while waiting for police reinforcement.
As the police arrived and engaged the gunmen in a gun duel, the attackers reportedly retreated but escaped with 344 schoolboys. Several students were said to have scaled the fence of the school to escape.
A day after the incident, the armed forces said they found the gang’s hideout in a forest and exchanged gunfire with them.
Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping
An unforgettable kidnapping incident that did not only shook Nigeria but also the world was the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State on April 14, 2014.
The kidnapping, carried out by the Boko Haram terrorist sect, generated massive outrage from international organisations such as the United Nations and Amnesty International, as well as from leaders from countries such as Canada, China, France, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Most of the countries also reportedly offered to assist Nigeria with intelligence to recapture the girls.
On the night the attack happened, some girls were reportedly loaded into trucks and the rest walked several miles until other trucks came to take them away into Sambisa Forest, where Boko Haram terrorists were known to have fortified camps.
Meanwhile, some of the girls have been released in the months that followed while several are still missing as of today.
Dapchi schoolgirls kidnapping
Four years after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnap, a similar incident occurred when, on February 19, 2018, Boko Haram kidnapped 110 schoolgirls from the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College at Dapchi, Yunusari Local Government area of Yobe State.
Five schoolgirls were said to have died on the same day of their abduction.
The then state governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, reportedly blamed the Nigerian Army for the attack, saying they removed a military checkpoint from the town.
A month after, the girls were freed except one, a Christian girl named Leah Sharibu, believed to have not been released by the terrorists because she refused to abandon her faith and convert to Islam.
READ ALSO: 12 Insurgents Killed As Troops Foil Boko Haram Attack
UNIMAID lecturers’ kidnap
One of the kidnap cases that also shook the country was that of the lecturers of the University of Maiduguri, Borno State in July 2017.
Boko Haram terrorists had ambushed the lecturers, who were part of an oil exploration team of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, were on an oil prospecting mission to the Lake Chad Basin.
The team comprised UNIMAID staff, members of the Civilian Joint Task Force, and military personnel.
The terrorists killed five staff members during the ambush and abducted four others, the UNIMAID chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities confirmed.
The university said the deceased comprised two geologists, two technologists and a driver.
The Nigerian Army also confirmed that nine soldiers and one other person were killed in the ambush.
On July 28, Boko Haram released a video of three of the kidnapped lecturers, appealing to the Federal Government and others to help secure their release.
After over 200 days in captivity, Boko Haram released the workers.
Babington Macaulay schoolgirls abduction
On February 29, 2016, about 15 gunmen reportedly attacked Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State at about 8pm, firing gunshots in the air during an operation in which three schoolgirls were abducted.
The schoolgirls were thereafter reportedly taken by the gunmen through Majidun to a creek via a canoe.
The girls were freed some days later after reportedly collecting a ransom.
Confessing to the crime in June 2016 after his arrest by the police, a kidnap kingpin, Felix Sylva, said he coordinated the girls’ abduction and others in the state, saying he got N300,000 as ransom before the girls were freed.
Advertise or Publish a Story on EkoHot Blog:
Kindly contact us at [email protected]. Breaking stories should be sent to the above email and substantiated with pictorial evidence.
Citizen journalists will receive a token as data incentive.
Call or Whatsapp: 0803 561 7233, 0703 414 5611
