Babies, female nurses and security guards abducted from Nigerian Hospital

Bazzup learned that the gunmen invaded the residential quarter from a nearby forest, engaged policemen in a gun battle before they escaped with their victims.

However, the actual number of persons kidnapped from the residential quarter by the gunmen is not clear as at the time of filing in this story.

Confirming the incident, the state Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, told PRNigeria that Nigerian troops have intensified efforts to rescue the victims.

Meanwhile, bandits operating in some communities within Kaduna State have killed up to seven persons within three days.

According to Aruwan, the bandits killed their victims in Chikun, Kajuru, and Giwa Local Government Areas of the state, adding that the security agencies confirmed the incidents to the state government on Saturday.

He explained that the security report revealed that the bandits shot four victims of kidnap dead at the outskirts of Tsohon Gayan general area of Chikun.

“Two of the victims were from Kakau village of the same LGA. The third was identified as being from Kachia town and the fourth remains yet unidentified,” he said.

The commissioner’s statement added that a gang of bandits also shot and killed two people in Iri Station, Kajuru council area.

“Also one person, a native of Tsohon Farakwai of Igabi LGA, was similarly killed by bandits at the outskirts of Galadima general area of Giwa LGA,” it added.

Gunmen have abducted babies, nurses and security guards from a hospital in north-west Nigeria, the police say.

The exact number of those taken in the city of Zaria isn’t clear.

Local bandits carried out simultaneous attacks on a police station and the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Centre, before escaping into a forest.

A local government official said troops were stepping up efforts to find the victims.

At least seven people were killed in similar attacks by gunmen over the weekend in Kaduna state.

Kidnappings for ransom are common in Nigeria.

Why children are being targeted

Since December, more than 600 students have been abducted from schools in north-west Nigeria, highlighting a worrying development in the country’s kidnap-for-ransom crisis.

Previously 300 students from the Government Girls Science Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara state, where kidnapped which ended with their release, was the second mass kidnap from schools in less than 10 days. Twenty-seven boys and their teachers who were taken from a school in Kagara, Niger state on 17 February were released on Saturday.

The authorities say recent attacks on schools in the north-west have been carried out by “bandits”, a loose term for kidnappers, armed robbers, cattle rustlers, Fulani herdsmen and other armed militia operating in the region who are largely motivated by money.

Many here believe that a weak security infrastructure and governors who have little control over security in their states – the police and army are controlled by the federal government – and have resorted to paying ransoms, have made mass abductions a lucrative source of income.

It is an accusation the governors deny. Zamfara governor Bello Matawalle, who in the past has promised “repentant” bandits with houses, money and cars, said people “not comfortable [with his] peace initiative” were sabotaging his efforts to end the crisis.

Until now, kidnap victims have generally been road travellers in Nigeria’s north-west, who pay between $20 and $200,000 for their freedom, but since the well-publicised abduction in 2014 of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok secondary school by Boko Haram Islamist militants in Borno state, more armed groups have resorted to mass abduction of students.

Kidnappers rewarded with cars and money

Kidnapping hundreds of students rather than road travellers, guarantees publicity and government involvement in negotiations, which could mean millions of dollars in ransom payments.

Security expert Kemi Okenyodo believes that this has made the abductions lucrative for criminal gangs.

The mastermind of the abduction of more than 300 students in Katsina state in December was recently pardoned in nearby Zamfara state after he “repented” and handed over his weapons to the government.

Auwalu Daudawa and his gang were promised accommodation in the town by Governor Matawalle, along with assistance to improve their livelihoods.

In July last year, Mr Matawalle promised bandits two cows for every AK-47 gun they surrendered.

Unlike his predecessor who was severely criticised for his handling of the Chibok girls kidnapping, Mr Buhari has not come in for huge amounts of public condemnation over the kidnap crisis, largely due to goodwill earned from negotiating the release of some of the Chibok girls in his early days.

His supporters also say that his government has been more responsive in securing the release of abducted students, though dozens, including Leah Sharibu, a Christian who was kidnapped when Boko Haram attacked their school in Dapchi in 2018, remain in captivity.

But security in Nigeria has deteriorated under Mr Buhari – there have been four reported mass abductions of students under his watch. That three of those have happened in the north-west highlights the worsening insecurity in that part of the country, while much international attention is focussed on the Boko Haram insurgency hundreds of miles away in the north-east.