Residents of a community in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State have begun fleeing their homes after fighters from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a Boko Haram faction, abducted 13 teenage girls from farmland in Mussa district, Askira/Uba Local Government Area.
Local sources said the girls, aged between 15 and 20, were harvesting crops on Sunday when gunmen stormed the fields and seized them. One of the teenagers later escaped and has been reunited with her family, but 12 others remain missing.
The attack has triggered a fresh exodus from the area. Families started leaving en masse on Monday, deepening the anxiety in a community already traumatized by the killing of five local vigilantes last week.
Residents and local officials say most households have relocated to nearby towns deemed safer, warning that the incident underlines how exposed rural farming communities remain to attacks by armed groups.
Abdullahi Askira, Deputy Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, confirmed the kidnapping and appealed to residents to promptly share information with security agencies about suspicious movements or suspected militants.
Junaid Jibrin, media aide to Senator Ali Ndume, said the girl who escaped is helping authorities piece together what happened.
“According to information available, the girls were kidnapped while harvesting. Fortunately, one of the abducted girls managed to escape and has returned home safely. She is currently assisting officials and family members with vital information about the incident,” Jibrin said.
In a separate development, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered the withdrawal of police officers from VIP protection duties so they can return to frontline policing.
Bayo Onanuga, the president’s special adviser on information and strategy, announced the directive on Sunday. He said it followed a high-level security meeting in Abuja attended by the heads of the police, Air Force, army and the Department of State Services (DSS).
Under the new arrangement, VIPs who require security details will be expected to draw well-armed escorts from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. Tinubu also approved the recruitment of 30,000 additional police officers and upgrades to training facilities as part of efforts to strengthen internal security.