LAGOS, Nigeria – The recent release of three separate groups of students who had been abducted in northern Nigeria sparked joyful meetings and the hope that other people would still remain soon to be released.
A few days later, gunmen again attacked a school in the northwest and took 73 new hostages.
Prior to Wednesday’s attack, about 1,000 students had been abducted in about a dozen school kidnappings since December and UNICEF says about 200 are still in captivity.
Here’s a look at what’s known about gunmen kidnapping children to rescue themselves in northern Nigeria.
WHO ARE THE CRIMINALS BEHIND THESE ABDUCTIONS?
Government officials describe the gunmen who carried out the attacks as “bandits,” but what connection exists between them is still unclear. School kidnappings have occurred in nine different states, and the targets have included everyone from preschoolers to college students.
Three different groups of hostages in three separate states – Niger, Kaduna and Zamfara – were then released within 24 hours of each other. This made some question whether it was a coincidence or a sign that these “bandits” actually have ties.
According to observers, the gunmen look like young Fulani men who had traditionally worked as nomadic pastoralists and are embroiled in a decades-long conflict with Hausa farming communities over access to water and land. pasture.
Some say they took up arms because they felt their communities had been abandoned over the years by the Nigerian government.
However, other kidnappers are simply opportunists who only want to make money with ransom payments, according to Idayat Hassan, who heads the Center for Democracy and Development, a policy research and advocacy organization focused on West Africa.
HOW DO BANDITS WORK?
Nigerian journalist Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, editor of the Abuja-based Daily Trust, has interviewed some of the gunmen and said they have set up dozens of camps in remote forested areas in the northwest. Each houses hundreds of fighters, though one in Zamfara state, where Wednesday’s new kidnappings took place, allegedly has 2,000 followers.
Authorities believe the bandits receive logistical support from local residents, saying some have confessed to transporting phones, fuel and food to the gunmen as they camped in the woods. They are believed to have used the money from the rescue payments to buy weapons and ammunition, some of which are now more sophisticated than those used by the Nigerian military.
WHY ARE THEY LINKED TO ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS?
Many initially believed that there was a difference between the Islamic extremists of the Northeast, who were motivated by ideology, and the bandits of the Northwest believed that they should only seek money.
However, the released captives have shared details suggesting that some bandits may share extremist beliefs with the Boko Haram group, whose name means “Western education is forbidden” in the local Hausa language.
Victory Sani, one of the students released in May after being abducted from her school in Kaduna state, said her abductors warned her to stay home.
“They asked us not to go back to school, they would make sure they closed all the schools in Kaduna state,” said 20-year-old Sani. “And if we go back there (to school), they’ll still come back for us. And if they get us, we won’t go back.”
The gunmen also told those students that “they were not looking for the money of our parents or of our lives; looking for (the) government, ”said Sani, whose father is still looking for a school where he can re-enroll and attend classes safely.
Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, a Nigerian cleric who is one of the few with access to bandits and has negotiated with them in the past, believes the bandits have been infiltrated by Boko Haram. He said the jihadist group “is looking for them (the bandits) seriously, trying to lure them to join their fight.”
The governor of the northwestern state of Niger, Abubakar Sani Bello, has also said that now extremists have also set up camp there. “I am confirming that there are elements of Boko Haram here in the state of Niger; here in Kaure … They have hoisted their flags here. Their wives have been abducted and tied tightly to Boko Haram members,” he said. say Bello in April. Neither the Nigerian army nor the presidency have responded to the governor’s claim.
WHY DOES THIS STILL GO OVER?
Schools are so scarce in the north that many parents send their children to boarding schools far from home. Even with enhanced security, these educational facilities are vulnerable to gunmen whose weapons have improved with each successive rescue payment. Due to the 12-year insurgency in the northeast, the Nigerian army has had far fewer soldiers sent to areas that are now repeated targets of kidnappers.
Following Friday’s announcement, head teacher at Salihu Tanko Islamiyya School in the state of Niger said more than 30 million naira (about $ 73,000) had been paid to secure the children’s release. Abubakar Alhassan said the families got most of the money and the school also raised money by selling land where they planned to expand the campus.
Oluwaseyi Adetayo, a security expert and former official of the state services department of the Nigerian secret police, says the bandits have found it too lucrative to kidnap children.
“He’s paying them more than any of them could imagine they could earn in their lifetime,” said Adetayo, who heads Eons Intelligence, a security advisory group. “It’s already a well-established business chain.”