Former NIA Boss Exposes Networks Fuelling Nigeria's Kidnapping Crisis
- Former NIA Director-General Ambassador Ahmed Rufai linked Nigeria's kidnapping crisis to terrorist groups, bandit militias, informants and financial facilitators
- Rufai spoke at the Global Security Forum in Qatar, revealing how the motives behind abductions have shifted beyond raising funds
- The former intelligence chief cited the Abuja-Kaduna train attack as a key example of criminal and terrorist collaboration
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Legit.ng journalist Adekunle Dada has over eight years of experience covering metro, government policy, and international issues
Ambassador Ahmed Rufai, former Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), has said Nigeria's kidnapping crisis is being driven by a web of terrorist organisations, criminal bandit militias, informants and financial facilitators working in concert.
Rufai offered a detailed breakdown of the forces sustaining abductions across the country.
Source: Twitter
He identified three broad categories of perpetrators: terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, bandit militias, and other criminal gangs.
As reported by DailyTrust, Rufai made the remarks at the Global Security Forum in Qatar, an annual gathering of senior government officials, security experts, academics and journalists.
According to him, Boko Haram's early abductions were largely aimed at fundraising and recruiting young men and women, while bandit militias carried out kidnappings primarily to collect ransom.
"It's a kind of economy hostage-taking," he said.
How terrorist and criminal groups are collaborating
Rufai said the goals of these groups had increasingly merged, with terrorist organisations sometimes partnering with criminal militias to execute mass abductions. He said such operations served both as a source of income and as propaganda, especially when security forces stepped up pressure on the groups.
He pointed to the Abuja-Kaduna train attack, in which about 100 passengers were abducted, as a clear example of this collaboration.
He estimated that between $1 million and $2 million was collected in ransom from that incident alone, with the funds channelled to Ansaru in the Sahel region.
Beyond fundraising, Rufai said kidnapping patterns had expanded to include schoolchildren and worshippers of both faiths, and that some abductions were now aimed at securing the release of detained group members.
He noted, however, that prisoner exchange negotiations became particularly complicated when the individuals whose release was being demanded had already died during security operations.
Informants, crypto, back-channel talks
The former intelligence chief said a support network of informants and financial intermediaries was equally critical to sustaining these operations.
"They use a lot of informants that tell them about their targets, their potential targets," he said. Ransom proceeds, he added, were laundered through cryptocurrencies and small financial outfits.
On how to respond, Rufai said the approach must be tailored to the motive and identity of the group involved.
Where kidnappings were financially motivated, he advocated discreet, back-channel negotiations through trusted intermediaries.
For abductions intended as political or ideological statements, he said a different strategy was needed.
Recalling the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls' abduction, Rufai said intelligence and liaison channels had helped authorities maintain contact with some of the victims over the years and eventually secure their return in batches.
He recounted the case of one rescued woman who had spent years with Boko Haram fighters, was married to three members of the group, two of whom died in combat, and expressed a wish both to see her family and to return to the group.
He said the case illustrated why no single approach could address all hostage situations.
Legi.ng reports that Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis has evolved into a sophisticated operational economy sustained by weak territorial governance, rural insecurity, intelligence gaps, financial adaptability, and declining public confidence in state protection.
Gunmen kidnap 6 residents in midnight attack
Meanwhile, Legit.ng also reported that suspected kidnappers stormed Nuru Suraj Estate in Millennium City, Kaduna, shortly after midnight on Tuesday, abducting eight people in the process.
Two elderly women were let go by the attackers, but six people, including two teenage secondary school students, remained in captivity.
Security forces launched a pursuit after the attack, while a senior officer confirmed an investigation had begun and police visited the community.
Source: Legit.ng
