Nigerian Leader Orders Hunt for Gunmen After Mass Abduction Video Surfaces Online

President Bola Tinubu has directed security forces to track down the armed men behind coordinated assaults on four villages in a remote area of Niger state, an operation that followed the release of footage showing captives seated in a forest clearing.

The gunmen, who witnesses said wore military-style attire, struck Dekara, Gidan Zana, Sabon Gida and Masaka on Friday. Residents reported that several mosques were hit at the same time as worshippers gathered for prayers. A police spokesperson, Wasiu Abiodun, told the BBC that more than 40 people died, although the precise toll remains unconfirmed.

A local youth leader estimated that as many as 500 residents may have been taken, a figure that has yet to be independently verified. Officials had earlier attributed the raids to bandits — the criminal gangs responsible for widespread kidnapping-for-ransom across parts of the country — but no ransom demands have so far emerged.

Attention turned sharply when the captors published a video on social media showing what they claimed were some of those seized. The unnamed youth leader said he identified numerous familiar faces in the footage, including an elderly man from Gidan Zana whom he described as a grandfather figure to the community. For some families, he noted, seeing loved ones alive brought a measure of comfort — at least they know their relatives' whereabouts and can hope for rescue, unlike families still waiting for any word on the missing.

The violence has emptied entire communities. A blogger with knowledge of the region said many survivors have escaped to nearby states or crossed into neighbouring Benin, while others remain hospitalised, some fighting serious injuries. A local official added a grim detail: the attackers laid improvised explosive devices along the routes they used to march captives into the forest, and one device killed a teenage boy as he attempted to flee.

Through his spokesman Bayo Onanuga, the president condemned both the killings and mass abductions, describing the perpetrators as enemies of peace and humanity who would face justice. He also extended condolences to bereaved families.

The raid underscores deteriorating security across the Borgu district, which sits near Kebbi and Kwara states as well as the Benin border. Earlier this month, police announced the rescue of 145 people snatched from four different villages in the same area.

Officials are also voicing alarm over jihadist groups gaining ground in north-western Nigeria and along the border belt, warning that fighters have recently moved into communities and begun imposing religious restrictions on local residents.