Lakurawa raid on Maburya: more than 100 residents abducted in Niger State
Vigilantes called it a full-blown war. The overnight assault on 12 September is one of the largest mass abductions in the state this year, as the terror group pushes deeper into the North-Central.
Sadiq Musa
Security Correspondent · Mariga, Niger State
5 min read
More than 100 residents were taken in a night raid on Maburya community in Mariga local government of Niger State on 12 September, security sources and local vigilantes said — a major escalation of Lakurawa operations on the North-Central frontier.
The count is still moving as search parties work. Nearby settlements including Gulbin Boka, Mohoro and Shadadi have been hit in the same wave. Farmers are leaving. Vigilantes describe the terrain as a war they were not armed to fight.
Lakurawa — “the recruits” — have been expanding from the Niger–Benin border belt into Borgu and adjoining country. Two weeks ago gunmen loyal to the group were reported to have abducted hundreds from mosques in Dekera and adjoining communities; about 2,000 people from that district fled into Benin Republic.
The Nigerian Air Force said in August it had intensified strikes around Maburya, Sangeko and Kampani Bobi after intelligence on motorcycle columns moving with rustled cattle. Air power has not emptied the bush. The gap between a sortie and a village that still has no radio is the story of this war.
President Tinubu’s government has been told, including by rights monitors, that more than a thousand people were abducted in the first quarter of 2026 alone. Maburya is not an isolated tragedy. It is the latest number in a ledger the federation has not closed.
About this reporting
Filed from Mariga, Niger State by Sadiq Musa, Security Correspondent. Aso Rock News is an independent newsroom. Send tips to the desk from the contact page.
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