Evidence · Security

Criticism

Security — civilian harm and mass abductions

Figures below refer to 31 July 2026 unless stated otherwise.

This is unfavourable and it is true. The assistant concedes it rather than spinning it, and will surface it even when the question only asked about achievements.

The claim

Independent monitoring shows insecurity remains severe, with mass school abductions in late 2025 and an assessment that banditry worsened into 2026.

Figures

Human Rights Watch World Report 2026: 2,938 people kidnapped in the North-West between July 2024 and June 2025 — Zamfara 1,203, Kaduna 629, Katsina 566, Sokoto 358. Incidents documented: 52 killed and around 2,000 displaced in Plateau (April 2025); 59 killed in Yelewata, Benue (June 2025, residents said 100+); 57 killed and around 70 missing in Borno (May 2025); over 60 killed at Darul Jamal (September 2025); 32 killed in a Katsina mosque (19 August 2025); at least 20 civilians killed by a military airstrike in Zamfara (January 2025). Mass school kidnappings November 2025: 25 schoolgirls from GGCSS Maga, Kebbi on 18 November (later freed on 26 November), and 303 students plus 12 teachers from St. Mary's Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State on 21 November. In response 47 Federal Unity Colleges were closed, plus school shutdowns in Katsina, Taraba and Niger. Africa Defense Forum, July 2026: 'Nigeria's Banditry Crisis Worsens'. Note: a widely circulated Beacon Consulting figure of 13,346 killed and 9,207 abducted covers only May 2023 to September 2024 — do NOT present it as current.

The counter-argument

There is no version of this file that reads as a win. The defensible position is that operational tempo increased and specific rescues succeeded, while civilian outcomes in the north-west and north-east did not improve. Say that plainly.

Sources

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