Nigeria: Bandits Abduct High Court Judge in Kebbi

What the report says

AllAfrica, carrying a Premium Times report from Abuja, said suspected armed bandits abducted Kebbi State High Court judge Justice Faruku Hassan in Bunza Local Government Area. The report said the judge was taken from his residence in the early hours of Sunday, shortly after he had returned from a trip to neighbouring Sokoto State.

Premium Times cited Kebbi police spokesperson Bashir Usman as confirming the incident to Daily Trust, saying Justice Hassan was abducted from his home in Bunza around midnight. According to the report, Commissioner of Police Umar Hadejia ordered tactical and intelligence units to pursue the attackers and work toward the judge’s safe release after authorities received information about the kidnapping.

The report said no group had claimed responsibility at the time of publication. It also described the incident as the second high-profile abduction by armed groups in the area within 24 hours, after the kidnapping of a local government chairman in Zamfara State, which borders Kebbi.

Premium Times noted that armed groups in Nigeria’s northwest have increasingly targeted public figures, including judicial officers, local government officials, traditional rulers and religious leaders. The report pointed to the region’s extensive and difficult-to-police forest areas, including Rugu and Kuyambana, across Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto and Katsina states, as terrain used by bandit groups moving across state boundaries. The abduction is significant because it underscores continuing insecurity in the northwest and the vulnerability of senior public officials outside heavily secured areas.