No fewer than 600 residents of Niger State are held by kidnappers even as the Niger State Police Command has deployed tactical teams of the military and police to rescue over 100 abducted by terrorists on Saturday night.
Before the latest abduction from Maburya community in the Mariga Local Government Area of Niger State, over 500 people were abducted from Borgu in the New Bussa Local Government Area in August, and up till this moment, the captives are still being held in the terrorists’ den.
In the Saturday kidnapping, the terrorists were said to have stormed the community and started shooting sporadically into the air before taking over 100 people away into the forest.
A security source, quoted by The Punch, who pleaded anonymity, said that the proximity of Mariga LGA to the expansive Kainji Lake National Park and other forest reserves in the state provides a seeming cover for terrorists, making it difficult for security agencies to track and engage them.
Another source, a local resident who failed to give his name, said 100 of the Mariga LGA abducted residents were set free by the terrorists this morning, leaving only three others, whom he said the bandits had promised to free as well.
The spokesman for the Niger State Police Command, Wasiu Abiodun, in a telephone interview, confirmed the abduction.
“On 13/9/2026 at about 8 pm, a report was received from Bangi Division indicating that suspected bandits invaded Maburya village via Bangi and abducted an unspecified number of victims, later releasing elderly and pregnant women, including nursing mothers, while others were taken away.
“Police and military tactical teams have been deployed to the location, while rescue efforts are intensified. Further developments will be made available to the public,” he said.
