By Luka Binniyat
1.) APRIL 2004
CHIBOK
Boko Haram (Western Learning Forbidden) Islamic terrorists operating in the Northeast of Nigeria in April 2014 stormed a girls’ secondary school in the Christian majority town of Chibok, Chibok county (near Lake Chad) and kidnapped 276 predominantly Christian, female students aged from 16- to 18 years of age. The unprecedented crime shocked the world and sparked a global demand for action. Some escaped; some were rescued years later. Some who were rescued had given birth after years of rape by terrorists. It is believed that there are still 98 of the Chibok girls in captivity.
2.) FEBRUARY 2019
DAPCHI
Boko Haram stormed Dapchi town, Yobe State in Northeast Nigeria On February 19, 2018 and abducted 110 schoolgirls aged 11–19 years from the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College (GGSTC about 170 miles Northwest of Chibok. Though the girls were later released because they were chiefly Muslims, Leah Sharibu, a Christian, rejected conversion to Islam as a precondition for her freedom. She is still in their custody and her fate a subject of wild speculation.
3.) FEBRUARY 2012
KAGARA
On February 17, 2021, one school pupil was killed, and 27 others were abducted by armed men at their Government Secondary School, Kagara, Rafi county, Niger State. Three members of the school staff, and 12 of their relatives also were abducted. They were released about 10 days later. A ransom was said to have been paid, though government denied the claims. No group claimed responsibility.
4.) FEBRUARY 2021
JANGEBE
The Government Girls Science Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara State, a boarding school ,was raided by armed bandits on the night of February 26, 2021. There, 279 female students aged between 10 and 17 were taken away loaded in trucks. Their abduction was short-lived, as they were all released by the bandits on March 2, 2021.
5) MARCH 2021
AFAKA
The Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, at Afaka, in Kaduna State, directly opposite Nigerian Defense Academy (Nigeria’s equivalent of West Point) was attacked by heavily armed bandits on the night of March 11, 2021. The invaders took away 39 students just weeks after the Jangebe-school kidnapping. Videos later surfaced showing gruesome torture of the students. The abducted included 23 females along with 16 males. The last of 29 students were released on May 6, 2021 after a ransom payment by their parents said to range between N250 to N300 million (US $133,333,000 to US $200,000) from the initial N500 million (US $333,333) demanded by the terrorists.
6.) APRIL 2021
GREENFIELD UNIVERSITY
Greenfield University, sited at an open countryside among a sprinkling of village homesteads of Kasarami village, about 20 miles Southwest of Kaduna town had long been considered a sitting duck for bandits. Not surprisingly, on April 20, 2021 armed bandits attacked the school, killing two security men and led away 23 students. The bandits made a demand of N800 million (US$533,333) and threatened to kill their hostages. To drive home their messages, they killed 5 of the students. Their parents claimed that they paid a total of N180 million (US$120,000) and bought 10 motor bikes for the terrorists.
7.) JUNE 2021
BIRNIN YAURI
A group of terrorists attacked the Federal Government College (FGC) at Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State and abducted 112 students and 8 teachers, and took them away in a pick-up truck and on motorbikes. The last batch of students were freed after 77 days in captivity. It is still not clear if ransom was paid and by how much. Apart from the fact that the terrorists were armed radical Islamic Muslims of Fulani ethnicity, no group claimed responsibly.
8.) JULY 2021
BETHEL BAPTIST HIGH SCHOOL
A few weeks after the Greenfield University kidnapping, on July 5, 2021 armed radical islamist terrorists forced their way at night into Bethel Baptist High School, about 8 miles from the Kaduna city center and abducted 121 children between 11- and 17-years old and of mixed gender. The school management said that a ransom of N250 million (US $166,666 dollars) was paid to secure their release. The students were released in batches. The last of the students returned home in November 2023.
9.) OCTOBER 2023
DUTSINMA
Armed radical, Islamic Fulani terrorists invaded an off-of-campus hostel of the Federal University Dutsinma, Katsina state, in Nigeria’s Northwest Sahel and kidnapped 5 female students on November 3, 2023. They spent approximately 7 weeks in the den of the bandits. The condition for their release has not been made public, though it is most likely that ransom was paid.
Luka Binniyat writes on Crime and Politics for TruthNigeria from Kaduna