Mass hostage release in Nigeria as 416 women and children freed from boko haram
Hundreds of captives taken earlier this year by Boko Haram in a rural community of northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state have been freed over the weekend, according to a senator and a local youth leader.
Kidnappings, often for ransom, have become a central strategy for the jihadist group in its 17-year insurgency against the Nigerian state, which is largely concentrated in the northeast.
Samaila Kaigama, head of the Borno South Youth Alliance (BOSYA), said his organisation “secured the release of 416 women and children abducted from Ngoshe.”
The victims were set free on Saturday, Kaigama told reporters.
Mohammed Ali Ndume, a senator representing Borno state, confirmed the release.
How the liberation was achieved remains unclear.
The hostages had been held by Boko Haram fighters “under harsh conditions after being taken from several communities, especially in the Ngoshe area,” Kaigama added.
“Tragically, two infants died from exhaustion due to prolonged captivity and difficult terrain,” said Daniel Bwala, spokesperson for President Bola Tinubu, in a social media post.
A military statement indicated that troops gathered intelligence and conducted “psychological operations” to sow “distrust within insurgent ranks” before launching the assault phase.
Militants had demanded millions of naira in ransom for the Ngoshe hostages.
Nigerian authorities deny paying ransoms, though analysts say the practice is common, both by the government and victims’ families.
Armed groups across Nigeria—including jihadists, bandit gangs, and separatists—have driven a kidnapping crisis that generated roughly $1.66 million in ransom payments between July 2024 and June 2025, according to a Lagos-based consultancy report.
Ngoshe lies less than 10 kilometres from the Cameroon border, in the Gwoza hills, a Boko Haram stronghold, and has faced repeated attacks.
Since the Boko Haram insurgency erupted in 2009, the jihadist uprising in Nigeria has spawned multiple armed factions, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions.
