Gunmen abducted seven students of the Federal Polytechnic, Kaura Namoda, Zamfara State, in the early hours of Wednesday.
The students were reportedly kidnapped from their off-campus residence on the outskirts of the Low-Cost area of Kaura Namoda.
Residents said seven students were initially taken, but one escaped, leaving three male and three female students in captivity.
Hours after the Zamfara incident, the sister of former Minister of Power and an aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) race for the governorship of Oyo State, Bayo Adelabu, was abducted. The sister, Busayo Adegoke John-Paul, and her twin children were abducted by armed men in Ibadan, the state capital.
The victims were said to have been kidnapped at about 7:30 am while she was taking her children to school.
The incidents happened amid growing concerns over the rising wave of kidnappings across the country.
On Tuesday, teachers staged nationwide protests over the abduction of more than 80 students and teachers in Oyo and Borno states, while the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency on insecurity.
The Zamfara State Police Command confirmed the abduction of the students, saying security operatives had launched a rescue operation.
Police spokesperson, DSP Yazid Abubakar, said the students were kidnapped from their residence and assured that efforts were ongoing to rescue them.
He said the polytechnic campus remained heavily secured, making it difficult for bandits to penetrate.
He explained that one of the students reportedly stepped outside at night and left the door open, enabling armed men passing through the area to gain access to the house and abduct the occupants.
Abubakar said personnel of the Command’s Violence Crime Response Unit (VCRU), in collaboration with troops of Operation Fansan Yamma, were working to secure the safe return of the victims.
The Chairman of Kaura Namoda Local Government Area, Mannir Haidara Kaura, also confirmed the incident and said security agencies were intensifying efforts to rescue the students.
A group, Concerned Residents of Kaura Namoda, in a statement, lamented the worsening security situation in the area, saying several residents, including two lecturers, a traditional leader and family members of a security personnel, had recently been abducted despite the presence of security formations.
“Alarmingly, all of these victims are still being held in a well-known bandit camp around Dajin Yamma, yet no rescue operations have taken place.
“Despite numerous complaints and suggestions forwarded to the authorities, nothing has changed. As a result, staff and students are fleeing the town for their own safety.
“Allowing these criminals to attack, kidnap, and return to their base unchallenged is an affront to our national security. With a military base located near the Low-Cost area, proactive measures must be taken immediately before the bandits attempt something even more embarrassing to our forces,” they said.
They urged security agencies to take the fight directly to the bandits’ doorstep, deploy more operatives and equipment, and protect the community and the Polytechnic.
Zamfara remains one of Nigeria’s worst-hit states for banditry and mass abductions. The state has witnessed repeated attacks on villages, highways, schools and farming communities over the past decade.
Notable incidents include the abduction of 317 schoolgirls from Government Girls Science Secondary School, Jangebe, in February 2021; the kidnapping of 19 students and staff of the Zamfara College of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, Bakura, in August 2021; the abduction of 73 students from Government Day Secondary School, Kaya, in September 2021; and the kidnapping of 24 students from a hostel in Sabon Gida community in 2023.
Between June 2025 and May 2026, at least 270 people had been abducted in Zamfara State, according to an analysis of documented incidents compiled from media reports.
Security experts, however, caution that the actual figure may be significantly higher, as many kidnappings in remote rural communities are either unreported or documented only at the local level.
One of the incidents occurred on June 16, 2025, when suspected bandits attacked farmers along the Dunfawa–Alawa Road in Moriki District of Zurmi Local Government Area.
The attackers initially abducted five farmers before seizing two more victims in the Tudun Moriki community on the same day, bringing the total number of abductees to seven. Two were later rescued.
On July 19, 2025, armed bandits attacked farmers near Jangebe in Talata Mafara Local Government Area, abducting about 15 people and killing nine others.
Among the most devastating cases was the mass abduction of 56 residents from Banga village in Kaura Namoda Local Government Area between March and July 2025.
According to the council chairman, Mannir Haidara Kaura, only 18 victims returned alive after ransom payments were made, suggesting that 38 others died in captivity. The survivors were later hospitalised for treatment.
On July 27, 2025, gunmen kidnapped three relatives of the Zamfara State Secretary to the State Government in Gusau. The victims were subsequently rescued.
On July 20, 2025, authorities announced the freedom of 32 victims, including 27 women and five children, from bandit camps in Shinkafi.
Between July 22 and 25, troops rescued 106 kidnapped persons from camps in Maru Local Government Area.
In August 2025, another 128 victims were reportedly reunited with their families in Kaura Namoda, while on May 30, 2026, security forces rescued 31 abductees along the Bagega-Kawaye axis of Anka Local Government Area.
