Nigeria’s Tinubu declares ‘nationwide security emergency’ in wake of mass kidnappings

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday (November 26, 2025) declared a “nationwide security emergency” as the country battles a wave of mass kidnappings.

“This is a national emergency, and we are responding by deploying more boots on the ground, especially in security-challenged areas,” Mr. Tinubu said in a statement.

The recent wave of kidnappings plaguing Nigeria is just the latest bout of security crises to hit Africa’s most populous country, which the government says it is fully committed to address.

In just a week, assailants kidnapped 25 schoolgirls, 38 worshippers, 315 school children and teachers, 13 young women and girls walking near a farm, and another 10 women and children — across various parts of the country.

Nigeria has suffered a string of abductions of schoolchildren since Islamist group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls in Chibok in the restive northeast in 2014, sparking an international outcry.

But the latest spate of successive kidnapping highlight President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s struggle with a long-running security crisis marked by jihadist attacks and violence by “bandit” gangs that raid villages, kill people and kidnap for ransom.