Nigeria has witnessed an alarming surge in extremist violence over the past week, with coordinated attacks reported across multiple states.
The incidents, attributed by authorities to Islamist militant groups, have resulted in mass abductions, killings, and widespread fear among civilian communities.
On Friday in Borno State, Brigadier General Uba and three soldiers under his command were seized by militants and later executed publicly, according to security sources familiar with the incident.
The following day in Zamfara State, gunmen stormed communities in Tsafe Local Government Area, abducting 64 civilians, among them women and children, in what residents described as one of the area’s largest mass kidnappings this year.
In Kebbi State on Sunday, armed militants attacked a school in Maga, abducting 25 female students along with their principal, and killing the vice principal during the assault.
Education officials said the attack has intensified fears across schools already grappling with security threats.
Also on Sunday, 38 worshippers were kidnapped from a church in Eruku, Kwara State, during a morning service.
Witnesses reported that the attackers arrived on motorcycles and fired sporadically before herding victims away.
In Yobe State, a police officer was killed on the same day in an attack in Geidam, a town that has suffered multiple insurgent raids in recent years.
Further violence was reported in Gwoza, Borno State, where eight members of the Civilian Joint Task Force were killed and three others abducted during an ambush.
In Sabon Birni, Sokoto State, militants abducted 15 people—including nursing mothers and infants—and killed two others, according to local leaders who described the area as being under constant threat.
Four rice farmers were also killed in Edu, Kwara State, after militants reportedly targeted farmlands in a renewed assault on rural communities.
The violence continued today in Niger State, where 52 students were abducted from a Catholic school in Agwara, prompting urgent calls for reinforced security across educational institutions.
With attacks stretching across the North-East, North-West, and North-Central regions, observers warn that the pattern reflects a deepening national security crisis.
The week’s grim tally underscores the scale of the challenge: more than a hundred civilians and students abducted, at least 17 security personnel and civilians killed, and communities across at least six states left traumatized.
As one public figure lamented in reaction to the surge in violence: “May God save Nigeria.”
