More than a dozen students travelling to sit university entrance exams were abducted by gunmen in north-central Nigeria’s Benue state, the regional governor said late on Thursday. Authorities have not identified who was responsible.
Police have launched search-and-rescue operations, and officials vowed that “no effort” would be spared to find the victims. Candidates across the region are taking their exams amid a tense atmosphere.
The attack occurred along the Makurdi–Otukpo road, Governor Hyacinth Alia described the incident as a “cowardly act.” He did not give an exact number of those seized, but local media reported that 17 students were missing.
A local trader, Mathew Mwasse, told AFP the abduction happened on Wednesday evening and that one passenger and the driver managed to escape. Maxwell Ogiri, chairman of Otukpo Local Government Area, said the victims are mainly young boys and girls travelling to Otukpo. He added that security forces had been deployed to nearby forests to search for them.
In neighboring Plateau State, security has been stepped up around examination centres, after a recent wave of violent attacks that left at least 30 people dead. Violence in Plateau surged by 71% in 2025 compared with the previous year, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) project.
The term “bandits” is commonly used by officials and media to describe armed criminal groups operating mainly in northern Nigeria, many of which carry out kidnappings for ransom. Mass abductions have repeatedly disrupted education, commerce and travel across wide parts of the country, leaving residents frustrated and questioning authorities’ ability to curb the threat.
Edited by: Rana Taha