Nigeria’s defence minister has resigned, as the country continues to grapple with a deepening security crisis marked by a surge in mass kidnappings of schoolchildren.
According to presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, Minister of Defence Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, stepped down with immediate effect on Monday.
The 63-year-old minister reportedly cited health reasons for his departure – a move that comes in the wake of President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a nationwide security emergency last week.
“His resignation comes amid President Tinubu’s declaration of a national security emergency, with plans to elaborate on its scope in due course,” Onanuga said in a statement.
The government has promised more detail soon on what this emergency will entail, but the message for now is that Abuja intends to move swiftly.
Nigeria – Africa’s most populous nation and no stranger to security challenges – has been left scrambling after a spate of abductions that have seen hundreds of people, mostly schoolchildren, seized within just a few days last month.
The crisis has also drawn sharp international attention. In October, US President Donald Trump designated Nigeria a "Country of Particular Concern" for religious freedom violations, citing what he described as killings of Christians by “radical Islamists”.
He even went so far as to threaten military intervention. Abuja and independent security analysts have firmly rejected Washington’s claim, but it has undoubtedly put the spotlight back on Nigeria’s long-running instability.
Nigeria declares security emergency after wave of mass kidnappings
Mass abductions
The most dramatic incident came on 21 November, when armed gangs stormed St Mary’s co-education school in north-central Nigeria, abducting more than 300 pupils, teachers and staff.
Fifty managed to escape, yet the remainder are still being held. On a high-profile visit to Kontagora in Niger state, national security adviser Nuhu Ribadu sought to reassure anxious families, saying: “The children are fine and will be back soon.”
Such kidnappings carry grim echoes of the 2014 Chibok schoolgirl abductions, when Boko Haram militants seized nearly 300 students from their dormitories – an episode that shocked the world and exposed the Nigerian government's limited reach in remote regions.
Since then, mass abductions have become common, usually driven by criminal gangs seeking quick ransom payments.
Gunmen seize 315 pupils and teachers in latest Nigerian mass school kidnapping
Jihadist campaign
Alongside the kidnappings, Nigeria has been battling a jihadist insurgency across its northwestern regions since 2009, adding yet another layer to the country’s complex security landscape.
Recent raids have targeted schoolchildren and teachers, worshippers and priests, a bride and her bridesmaids, farmers, women and children – a grim roll call that spans multiple states and communities.
In response, Tinubu’s government has ordered a major recruitment drive for both police and military personnel, suggesting a push to bolster security forces stretched thin across vast territories.
(with newswires)
