Nigeria Orders Manhunt After Viral Video Purports to Show Hundreds of Kidnap Victims
By Samuel Danbaji
JOS NIGERIA – President Bola Tinubu has ordered the military and other security agencies to launch an immediate rescue operation after a video circulating online purportedly showed gangs parading hundreds of kidnapped victims, including women and children.
The president has also directed security chiefs to provide regular updates and account for those abducted.
The directive follows an attack last Friday in Niger State, where armed gangs reportedly disguised in military uniforms raided several communities and a mosque in Dekara village, Borgu Local Government Area, during Friday prayers.
Local residents told journalists that as many as 500 people may have been kidnapped from several communities. Authorities say more than 40 people were killed, while thousands of residents have fled their homes.
However, Ideko News has been unable to independently verify the claim that up to 500 people were abducted, or establish whether the victims shown in the circulating video are from the Niger State attack.
Niger State’s Information Commissioner told our reporter that a forensic team is investigating the video and the reports of mass abductions.
If confirmed, the scale of the abduction would make it one of the largest mass kidnappings recorded in Nigeria in recent years, underscoring the continuing challenge authorities face in containing nearly two decades of armed violence involving insurgent groups and criminal gangs.
