kidnapping
For the past decade, criminal gangs in northwest Nigeria have terrorised communities, attacking villages, pillaging, raping, stealing cattle, ambushing travellers and kidnapping people.
Groups have also turned to mass kidnapping, seizing hundreds of students in a string of raids on schools — apparently emulating tactics used by jihadists hundreds of kilometres (miles) away.
Here’s what we know about these “bandits,” as the gangs are known locally:
How did the violence emerge?
Violence in Nigeria’s northwest originated with communal clashes over access to land and resources — a phenomenon that has worsened with the suspected impact of climate change.
On one side are predominantly Fulani herders and on the other mainly Hausa farmers.
After years of conflict, and land ownership laws favouring farmers, some herders turned to violent criminal activities, boosted by illegal weapons flows from as far as Libya.
How many are there?
These groups, mainly comprising…
Source: Guardian Newspaper
