Representative image (AI-generated)
A group of of young women and girls abducted in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state on November 22 were freed late Saturday.Their release comes amid a surge in abductions of young people across the country over the past two weeks.”All 12 were released,” Abubakar Mazhinyi, president of the local Askira-Uba council, told the AFP news agency.The Nigeria Army said “the rescued girls have been evacuated to a secure military facility where they are receiving comprehensive medical care, psychological support and debriefing. Upon completion of these processes, they will be formally reunited with their families.”Last Saturday, 13 women and girls aged 16 to 23 were abducted near farms close to an area that has become a jihadist hideout.The Army said Boko Haram/Islamic State West Africa Province ISWAP was behind the abduction. The gang freed one of them after she told them she was nursing a baby.Tinubu declares security emergencyBorno state is at the center of Nigeria’s conflict with the jihadists, which started 16 years ago with Boko Haram.Although the jihadist movement has lost momentum, Boko Haram and its rival, the breakaway Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), continue to pose a threat in the region. The recent kidnapping is a harsh reminder of the 2014 abduction of nearly 300 girls in Chibok.Elsewhere in the country, armed gangs seized more than 300 children from a Catholic school in the central-western Niger delta state last week.Although some managed to escape, more than 265 children and teachers are still in captivity. These abductions were claimed by local gangs rather than jihadists.On Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu declared a security emergency, ordering mass recruitment of police and army personnel.He gave the Department of State Services approval to deploy trained forest guards and recruit more staff to flush out armed groups hiding in forests.”There will be no more hiding places for agents of evil,” Tinubu said in a televised address.
