All language subtitles for Global.Eye.S2026E21-Nigerias.Growing.Kidnapping.Crisis.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-7VFr33104D_track3_[eng]

Hello and welcome to Global Eye.

Each week,
we bring you unmissable stories

from across the BBC World Service,

hard-hitting investigations
and tales of hope and resilience.

I'm Yemisi Adegoke,
and this week we're in Nigeria.

I've come to northern Nigeria

to find out why the government
is struggling to stop

the wave of mass kidnappings

terrorising schoolchildren
and their families.

And I meet a group
of remarkable young women

who survived an abduction

and are now back at school
in defiance of their kidnappers.

Also on the programme...

When will you hear the cries
of Nigerians, of Christians?

You can no longer deny genocide!

Reports are spreading
on social media that

a so-called "Christian genocide"
is happening in Nigeria.

BBC Eye has investigated the claims.

And we'll bring you the moving story
of the Sudanese wedding photographer

documenting love, loss and survival
in wartime Darfur.

This is Oriire, Oyo State,
south-west Nigeria,

the site of a mass kidnapping
that rocked the country.

Earlier this year,
gunmen on motorcycles

attacked three schools here,
including this one.

They abducted 39 children,
the youngest just two years old,

along with seven teachers.

One teacher was killed here
during the raid.

Another teacher's murder
was filmed and shared online,

sparking national outrage.

Videos of
the kidnapped teachers emerged,

purportedly showing them pleading
for the government to save them.

After 56 days in captivity,

to the joy of their families,
the children were released.

Authorities say no ransom was paid

and a successful security operation
led to their release.

But despite this positive ending,

the fear and trauma
that the attackers caused

has become all too familiar
to many families here.

I've lived and reported in Nigeria
for the last 13 years

and seen up close how
the kidnapping crisis has escalated.

Mass abductions have
plagued this country

since at least the early 2000s
but made global headlines in 2014

when 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped
from their school in Chibok.

Back then, mass kidnappings

were often thought of
as a northern issue,

something confined to the Boko Haram
strongholds of the north-east

or the bandit zones
of the north-west.

But what's happened this year
here in Oriire

proves that's no longer true.

The perpetrators
are mostly criminal gangs,

known locally as bandits.

They are largely made up of herders
from the Fulani ethnic group,

who traditionally reared animals

but have swapped cattle trading
for kidnap and extortion.

They move in large numbers
on motorcycles,

allowing them to attack quickly

and escape before
security forces arrive.

Bandits are not necessarily
driven by ideology,

and there is no centrally
organised leadership.

They see kidnapping as
a quick, easy way to make money,

as did the jihadist groups like
Boko Haram and its splinter groups,

like Islamic State
West Africa Province, or ISWAP,

who are also involved in abductions.

So what is the government
doing about it?

President Bola Tinubu, who is
standing for re-election next year,

allocated a record $4 billion

for defence and security
in the annual budget,

and thousands of new military
recruits have been approved.

To bandits, kidnappers

and sponsors of terror,

surrender or face the full force
of the Nigerian state.

No mercy will be shown

to those who trade
in blood of Nigerians.

The kidnapping in Oriire sent
shock waves across the country,

but, here in Zamfara,
in the north-west,

worsening insecurity has become
part of everyday life.

Zamfara is the heartland
of the banditry crisis.

Successive governments here
have tried everything

to put an end to the violence -

deploying soldiers,
launching military offensives,

even granting amnesty
to the armed gangs.

None of it has worked.
In fact, kidnapping has increased.

And the question the whole country
is asking is, why?

It's basically the failure
of the government

to deal with insecurity generally.

And if you look at
where these mass abductions happen,

they happen in remote areas
where the state is largely absent.

And when I say the state is absent,
I'm talking about

not just in the area of development,
but also in the area of security.

President Tinubu's administration

says it won't negotiate
with armed groups,

warning them to surrender
or face the full force of the law.

But in reality, the government's
grip continues to weaken.

In this state, some villages
are under bandit control.

Residents are extorted -
forced to pay up or die.

And that's just one state.

Across Nigeria,

the government is fighting
multiple battles at the same time.

The jihadist insurgency
in the north-east,

conflict over land
in the Middle Belt,

secessionist violence
in the south-east.

The kidnapping crisis
is just another symptom

of a government struggling
to keep its citizens safe.

Four years ago,

BBC Eye gained unprecedented access
to Nigeria's kidnap gangs

for an unflinching look

at how they planned
and carried out their attacks

and the devastating impact
on their victims.

That film was
The Bandit Warlords Of Zamfara.

This is one of the bandits
who led the attack on the girls.

It took me five months
to contact him

and another four
to persuade him to meet.

I eventually met Abu Sanni
deep in the forest.

After the film aired,

some donors reached out
to the girls featured in it,

saying they wanted to
help fund their education.

I wanted to see how much life
had changed for the girls

since their ordeal,

so I came here to Zamfara to meet
with them and hear their stories.

THEY SING

The courtyard of this school
in the city of Gusau

is buzzing with excitement.

In just a few weeks,
these girls will graduate.

In many ways, Hannatu is just
like any other teenage girl -

nervous about her exam results,
a big fan of BTS and K-dramas.

Amongst the fun and games,

they're all thinking
about university

and what they want to do
when they leave here.

Ummu is a student at university
in the nearby town of Talata Mafara.

Hannatu and Ummu's time in education
has not always been so happy.

Gunmen in Nigeria have
kidnapped hundreds of girls

from a boarding school...

In 2021, they found themselves

at the centre
of an extraordinary story

that made headlines
around the world.

Gunmen attacked this rural school
they were attending

in the town of Jangebe.

Almost 300 schoolgirls
were kidnapped.

They were seized by bandits,

heavily armed groups of men
on motorcycles

who have terrorised communities
in the region,

attacking towns, villages
and seizing people for ransom.

Speaking to BBC Africa Eye
a year later,

Hannatu and Ummu described
their terrifying ordeal.

The release of the girls
who were abducted was met with joy.

But security fears meant
their education was put on hold.

Following the BBC's Bandit Warlords
Of Zamfara programme,

a group of girls

had their education funded by
a nonprofit organisation.

The Illmi Children's Fund
paid for them

to attend this boarding school
in the state capital.

It offers pupils much
better educational opportunities

in a safe environment.

Things that affects
our news stories.

After graduating from the school
Hannatu attends,

Ummu is now in the first year of

an early childhood education
degree course.

Tovia Muo works
for the Illmi Children's Fund.

They help support girls
across Nigeria.

We are not educated.
You don't have a choice.

You don't have a say
in how your life,

the course of your life.
For example,

if they say, oh, you need to
get married, at that point,

you don't even understand
what marriage entails.

And that is not what we want
for girls. We want girls

to be able to understand
the different opportunities

that are out there for them.

And these opportunities
are attainable through education.

Their abduction changed the course
of their lives

but, through education,

Hannatu and Ummu are determined
that it will not define them.

GUNSHOT

While Nigerians in the north and
south of the country struggle with

the banditry crisis,
in central Nigeria,

a communal conflict
has also claimed thousands

of lives and led to fears
that the region is

in the grip of what some have
called a Christian genocide.

This claim has reached millions,

echoed by campaigners
and shared on social media.

It's influencing public opinion
and even shaping government policy.

If we attack, it will be fast,
vicious and sweet.

But as violence and fear has spread,
so too has misinformation.

So are Nigeria's Christians
being deliberately targeted

for their faith, or has one of
the world's most complex conflicts

become one of its
most misunderstood?

Africa Eye's Adejuwon Soyinka
has been investigating.

Around
12,000 Nigerians of

all faiths
and ethnicities were killed

in armed violence in 2025.

These attacks have many causes,

but all are rooted
in decades of state failure.

But beyond their borders,

these overlapping conflicts
have increasingly been described

as a deliberate
genocide of Nigeria's Christians.

It's the silent genocide unfolding
against Christians in Nigeria.

Since the early 2020s,
this narrative has spread globally

through social media
and political lobbying,

and even prompted the White House
to launch military action.

But how credible is the theory?

And where has it come from?

I'm in Lagos to meet the
BBC disinformation team.

Olaronke Alo identified

one organisation in particular,
Intersociety,

as a key driver of the narrative.

Its statistics are often cited
by Christian advocacy groups

and US policymakers as evidence

of targeted violence
against Christians in Nigeria.

Intersociety is based in
the south-east of Nigeria

and what they do is to track

and monitor human rights abuses
and violent attacks,

you know, happening across Nigeria.

But many conflict analysts
have expressed serious

concerns about
the group's methodology.

Like, for instance, they, you know,

they have this crisis in majorly
Christian-dominated states, right?

So then they look at it,
if there's an attack,

they sum it up to say
that those that were,

you know, that have been killed,
will likely be Christians.

And decide that,
because the community

is a predominantly
Christian community...

Yeah. ..then, if a certain
number of people were killed there,

then the majority
must necessarily be Christian.

Yeah.

VOICE-OVER: Despite these concerns,

Intersociety's statistics
have been repeatedly used

by advocacy groups,
commentators and even politicians.

According to Intersociety,

4,020 Christians have been killed
by militant Islamists,

with over 2,000 abductions between
January and October this year alone.

Since 2009, Islamic
jihadists have murdered

more than 50,000 Christians
in Nigeria.

How concerned are you about
the framing of the,

you know, security concerns
or challenges going on in Nigeria?

On social media, the framing has
been causing some kind of tension.

Now people are freely saying, oh,
it's because they're Christians,

that's why the community
has been attacked.

And then sometimes, um,

it's increasing an already
tense situation.

I'm off to Jos, Plateau State,
in Nigeria's Middle Belt.

Decades of communal conflict have
left deep scars in this city.

Now online discourse
is fuelling old divisions.

Since 2001, Jos has faced recurring
ethnic and religious violence,

leaving the city
divided along sectarian lines.

On March 29th this year,
Palm Sunday,

gunmen shattered the fragile
peace of this divided city.

I'm taken to the junction where,
according to community leader

Jeff John Yaro,
the gunmen first opened fire...

Look at the one here.
This one? Yeah, this very one here.

VOICE-OVER: ..killing
everyone in their path,

including those hiding
in nearby shops.

We don't know exactly how many

were killed in the attack,

but most of them were Christians.

They just murdered over ten people.
Innocent Christians.

Within a short time
of him learning of the attack,

Alex Barbir, an American Christian
social media influencer

who was in the country
doing humanitarian work,

arrived on the scene.

He reported the incident
as a deliberate

attack on Christians to his
nearly 500,000 followers.

When will it stop?

When will you hear the cries
of Nigerians, of Christians?

You can no longer deny genocide.

They're being slaughtered!

But Christians weren't
the only victims.

Muslims were also killed -
some in the attack,

others in the revenge violence
that followed.

As a result of that attack,

and then the misinformation
that went viral,

there was reprisal attacks
and counterattacks

for a couple of days, and it led to
the death of many people.

Many were injured, and then the...

...whole city was like
trying to fall back

to days of civil unrest.

And it's terrible, actually.

Among the dead

were two university students
who died in the city.

Claims that the University
of Jos campus had become

a battleground
quickly spread on social media.

According to the University's vice
chancellor, the campus was quiet.

When I saw this particular video,
I was sitting at home looking at

the video and people
were saying, oh, Unijos is on fire.

I decided, "OK, I'm coming."
I went round the campus,

the campus was peaceful.

I went to the student
village hostel.

Student village hostels
were peaceful.

Six months
after the Palm Sunday attack,

the motive remains unclear.

No group has claimed responsibility

and police have yet
to establish one.

Yet the attack
continues to fuel claims

that Nigerian Christians face

an organised campaign
of elimination,

with some critics even accusing
the government of complicity.

This is where it beats logic
because the wife of the president,

for instance,
is not just a Christian.

She's a pastor.

The governor of Plateau State
is a Christian.

The chairman of Jos North
local government,

where the Palm Sunday
attack happened,

is also a Christian.

Now, are we suggesting
that these Christians

are presiding over the process
of exterminating fellow Christians?

That doesn't add up.

It simply just doesn't make sense.

But one fact can't be ignored.

Over the past two decades,

Christians in the Middle Belt
have died in their thousands.

And according to
Christian advocacy groups

in numbers that are
disproportionate to Muslims.

I've come to the
village of Dogo Nahawa,

just outside Jos city limits.

For this work that is ahead of us.

So that we will build
this house of God...

At the heart of this
Christian community is the church

where I meet Masara Kim.

A local reporter and activist,

Kim frequently appears on
American Christian channels,

which claim a global audience
of hundreds of millions.

When you look at the issues
from the bird's-eye view...

...they look rather complicated.

But when you zoom in to
the experience of one community,

it points to acts of genocide -

especially in the
Middle Belt region,

which is majority Christian.

Despite being a
prolific online presence,

Kim believes the power
of social media

can cut both ways.

Social media is helping to bring
attention to the situation.

It's helping voiceless communities

and voiceless individuals
to be heard.

But I must admit also

that it is stirring up a revolution

and contributing to

what we now see
as reprisal attacks

and even religious wars
in various communities -

including in Jos, where I live.

Claims of Christian genocide have
proved divisive in Nigeria...

...but the crisis is
far more complex.

Online discourse
is fuelling tensions,

leaving millions of Nigerians
to live with fear and uncertainty.

Some may stand to benefit
from this information war.

Many of them will
never set foot here...

...but that is little
consolation to those Nigerians

who continue to die
in their thousands.

And you can watch the full
BBC Eye documentary...

...on BBC iPlayer or on the
BBC World Service YouTube channel.

Here's some more content
from the World Service

that has been making
an impact this week.

BBC Nepali has been
on the ground,

reporting from some
of the areas hardest hit

by Nepal's devastating floods.

They spoke to a 97-year-old woman

who spent four
hours trapped in mud

before being pulled out
by excavators to safety.

The team also followed rescue
efforts from the air,

speaking to helicopter pilots
carrying out missions

in difficult conditions.

Over 1,000 miles east of Nigeria is
a region also mired in conflict.

Darfur, in Sudan, has been gripped

by a brutal civil war,
on-and-off, since 2003.

But even amidst the violence,

there are moments of love,
hope and community.

After years spent documenting war,
displacement and loss,

one Sudanese photojournalist

has now turned his lens
to a different subject.

DRUMMING AND SINGING

We want to know your feedback
about Global Eye

so let us know what you
think on social media

using the hashtag #bbcglobaleye.

We'll be back next week.

Goodbye.