38 KIDNAPPED NIGERIANS KILLED

Written by Michael Thervil

NIGERIAN KIDNAPPINGS RESULT IN KILLING OF 38 | Criminal bandit gang in Birnin Magaji, Zamfara State. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Murtala Rufa’i)

[Kidnapped Nigerians Killed] In the Zamfara State of northwest Nigeria, an estimated 56 people were kidnapped and killed by what Nigerian authorities are calling “insurgents”. The kidnapped victims were said to have been taken from Banga Village in Kauran, Namoda as early as March this year. For the promised return of the victims, the kidnappers demanded a ransom of 50 million Naira which is the equivalent of $33,000 dollars. According to another source the kidnappers originally demanded $660 per victim of the kidnapping.

Determined to see their loved ones again, the people of the Banga Village decided to band together to pay the demanded ransom, however only 18 of the 56 victims were returned because the ransom wasn’t paid on time. According to one of the returned victims, the other 38 victims were killed by their captors. Addressing the Press, Zamfara Governor Dauda Lawal stated the following:

“The government will not rest until every criminal involved in these atrocities is captured or neutralized.”

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The crime of kidnapping people and demanding a ransom seems to be a reoccurring theme in places like Banga Village in Nigeria. In fact, the Banga Village made international headlines previously in 2024 when 130 people were kidnapped from a school. Earlier this year insurgence killed another 22 people in the Borno and Adamawa Villages in northeastern Nigeria. Then there was the kidnapping incident that ended in the deaths of 20 people in which some of their throats were slit and others shot in door-to-door raids. After that another 80 victims were shot via  motorcycle drive-by in the Guru and Dan-Gulbi Villages which both lie in the Zamfara State.

Another instance of mass kidnapping occurred when militants from the Boko Haram Terror group kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls from the Chibok Village in Borno State. While terrorist groups and common street gangs tend to run rampant in Nigeria, Nigerian authorities and the President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu seems to perpetually fail (and some argue intentionally fails) at preventing the emergence of both terror groups, gangs and the violence that they perpetrate in the first place.

Could the social disorder and the high number of kidnappings be because of the incompetence of the Nigerian government? Or is the social disorder and the high number of kidnappings being because of the Nigerian government failure to care enough about its citizens? to find out we must look at the geographical location of Nigeria to get an idea of what's happening.

To the north of Nigeria is Niger and the greater Sahel region of Africa where neighboring countries Niger and Chad are battling terrorist organizations and various gang factions. With all of that going on and the lack of ECOWAS’s ability to contain these organizations and gangs within the borders of Nigeria, combined with the fact that Nigeria has both a high underemployment and unemployment rate; it's easy to see how and why perpetual kidnappings for ransom are taking place.

While many will place the blame for the kidnapping for ransom on people simply “evil”, it’s important to obtain a firm grasp on why terrorist organizations and gangs are operating in the significant numbers that that they are; which is a combination of poor socio-economic conditions, western collusion and interference, conflicting religious perspectives, and the governmental leaders that have sold out their nations for the conditional acceptance of the Collective West.