Troops of the Nigerian Army’s 12 Brigade, operating under the 2nd Division, have rescued a mother and her six-month-old baby following a kidnapping incident in Egbe, Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi.

The Acting Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, 12 Brigade, Lt. Hassan Abdullahi, confirmed that the incident occurred late on June 3, 2026, when armed men invaded a residence near Solid Rock School in Ijalu, Egbe, and abducted five members of the same family, including a nursing mother, her infant, and three other relatives.

According to the Army, troops responded promptly after receiving a distress call and immediately mobilised in collaboration with operatives of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) to pursue the attackers.

The combined security team trailed the kidnappers along their escape route, maintaining sustained pressure throughout the operation.

The pursuit forced the abductors to abandon the mother, identified as Mrs. Adekemi Idowu, and her six-month-old baby along the Oro axis, where they were safely recovered and reunited with their family.

Military authorities confirmed that search-and-rescue operations are ongoing to secure the release of the remaining abducted family members and to apprehend the perpetrators.

The Nigerian Army reiterated its commitment to safeguarding lives and property, while urging residents to provide timely and credible intelligence to support ongoing counter-kidnapping operations in the state.

Nigeria’s recent history of insecurity is marked by painful events that have shaped national memory and political discourse. From the global shock of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping to the later Dapchi schoolgirls kidnapping, and more recent incidents reported in parts of Oyo State such as Oriire Local Government Area, the recurrence of mass abductions has raised persistent questions about timing, pattern, and intent. For many observers, these events do not only represent security failures they also sit uncomfortably close to moments of political intensity in Nigeria’s democratic cycle, and this proximity often fuels a deeper public interrogation of whether they are random consequences of weak security architecture or part of a broader pattern that political actors somehow navigate, benefit from, or indirectly reinforce. 

At the most grounded level, Nigeria’s insecurity is driven by well-documented structural realities. In the North-East, insurgent groups such as Boko Haram and ISWAP have sustained a prolonged campaign of violence, of which Chibok and Dapchi remain the most symbolic examples, while in other regions, especially the North-West and parts of the North-Central and South-West, armed banditry and kidnapping-for-ransom networks have evolved into parallel criminal economies. These developments point strongly to insecurity as a consequence of long-standing governance gaps, territorial weaknesses, and evolving non-state armed networks rather than isolated or episodic occurrences tied to political actors. 

Despite this, insecurity in Nigeria rarely remains outside political interpretation, as each major incident becomes part of a wider national argument about leadership capacity, state legitimacy, and electoral credibility. Over time, this has created a perception environment where insecurity is not only experienced as violence but also interpreted through a political lens, and it is within this space that narratives of pattern emerge linking Chibok, Dapchi, and later incidents such as Oriire into a single continuum. However, while the political impact of insecurity is undeniable, translating that impact into claims of orchestration requires evidence that has not been publicly established through credible investigation, and what remains clearer is that insecurity consistently reshapes political conversation rather than being conclusively shown to originate from it. 

When a country repeatedly experiences similar tragedies across different administrations, there is a natural tendency to search for design behind the repetition, but insurgent and criminal networks in Nigeria have demonstrated operational continuity that transcends political transitions, with motivations more consistently linked to ransom economies, ideological violence, and weak enforcement environments than electoral timelines. This makes the apparent pattern more plausibly an overlap between persistent insecurity and recurring political cycles rather than coordinated orchestration. 

Regardless of interpretation, what remains constant is the responsibility of the state to prevent, detect, and disrupt violent networks before they act, because insecurity becomes most damaging not only when it occurs but when it persists in spaces where governance is thin, intelligence coverage is limited, and rapid response is constrained. This brings attention to a more practical dimension of the problem: the geography of insecurity, where vast forest belts, remote borderlands, and sparsely monitored terrains have too often functioned as operational cover for criminal groups. 

Whether viewed as coincidence, consequence, or politically amplified phenomenon, Nigeria’s insecurity crisis ultimately demands solutions that go beyond interpretation, and the central challenge is not only understanding patterns but breaking them through deeper investment in intelligence-led security, modern surveillance systems, real-time data integration, and sustained monitoring of remote terrain. Most importantly, there must be a deliberate effort to ensure there are no ungoverned spaces in forests, savannah corridors, and border regions, because only by closing these blind spots can Nigeria begin to dismantle the operational freedom that makes repeated tragedy possible, regardless of how those tragedies are later interpreted in the political space. 

Nworisa Michael is the coordinator of Inter-tribe Community Support Forum and writes from nworisamichael1917@gmail.com

Young Nigerian graduates have been encouraged to apply for the second phase of the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme (NJFP 2.0), a youth employability initiative expected to provide more than 23,000 participants with paid work experience opportunities across the country.

The programme is designed to support graduates in accessing meaningful employment opportunities by connecting them with real-world work placements across different sectors.

According to organisers, NJFP 2.0 aims to bridge the gap between education and employment by equipping young graduates with practical experience, workplace skills, and career development opportunities needed to compete in Nigeria’s labour market.

Eligible graduates interested in participating have been advised to submit their applications through the programme’s official portal 👉 Apply Here

The Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme is a flagship youth employment initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria, supported by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Kebbi State Governor, Dr. Nasir Idris, has announced plans to set up a committee to review the salary structure of primary school teachers across the state as part of efforts to improve their welfare and working conditions.

The governor made this known during an interactive session with primary school teachers, education secretaries, local government chairmen, and other stakeholders held at the Presidential Lodge in Birnin Kebbi.

According to him, the committee will be given 30 days to submit its recommendations, assuring teachers that concerns surrounding salaries, including issues related to the implementation of the minimum wage, would receive due attention.

Governor Idris, who described teachers as his constituency, reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to protecting their interests and ensuring they receive fair treatment.

“This government belongs to you because I am one of you as a teacher. Your support and votes made this possible,” he said, while urging teachers to remain focused and avoid distractions that could affect progress in the education sector.

The governor also directed local government chairmen to provide updates on salary implementation within their councils and indicate whether adjustments had been made.

Responding, the council chairmen confirmed that salary increases had commenced in their respective local governments, although implementation remains ongoing.

Governor Idris further urged teachers to remain committed to their responsibilities in order to strengthen the quality of education across the state.

He also pledged to introduce additional welfare packages, including housing support and access to vehicle and motorcycle loan schemes aimed at improving teachers’ living conditions.

The governor assured teachers of continued government support and promised sustained efforts toward enhancing their welfare and professional development.

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has sentenced four members of a terrorist group linked to the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, to death by hanging over their involvement in the deadly assault.

Justice Emeka Nwite delivered the judgment on Wednesday after convicting Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, 25; Al-Qasim Idris, 20; Jamiu Abdulmalik, 26; and Abdulhaleem Idris, 25, on a nine-count terrorism charge filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) on behalf of the Federal Government.

The court, however, discharged and acquitted the fifth defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar, 47, after ruling that the prosecution failed to sufficiently establish his connection to the attack.

Delivering judgment, Justice Nwite held that the prosecution proved its case against the four convicts beyond reasonable doubt, noting that evidence presented before the court established their membership and active participation in the terrorist group responsible for the attack.

According to findings presented in court, the convicts were members of a terrorist cell operating in Kogi State and participated in the assault on St. Francis Catholic Church during a Pentecost service.

The prosecution alleged that the attackers stormed the church premises, attacked worshippers and carried out the operation using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and AK-47 rifles, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries.

To establish its case, the prosecution called 11 witnesses and tendered 23 exhibits, including confessional statements and digital forensic evidence.

Among the exhibits admitted was a Technophone mobile device allegedly containing communications exchanged by the defendants before and after the attack.

One of the prosecution witnesses, a Catholic priest who survived the incident, narrated how multiple explosive devices were detonated inside the church during the attack, causing panic and heavy casualties among worshippers.

Justice Nwite ruled that the totality of the evidence sufficiently linked the four defendants to the terrorist attack and consequently convicted them on all counts.

He subsequently sentenced the four convicts to death by hanging, while acquitting the fifth defendant for lack of sufficient evidence.