Taken from Home: Inside a Kwara Kidnapping That Swallowed a Community’s Trust

In Odo Ore in Kwara state, north-central Nigeria, residents believe prosperity can sometimes become a death sentence after an incident in April 2026. According to a close relative in his mid-50s who resides in the community and asked to be kept anonymous due to security reasons, a man who returned from Lagos to the hometown to establish a point-of-sale (POS) business was kidnapped after his business began generating substantial income. As his earnings grew, so did his visibility. Though in May 2025, Nigeria created the Presidential Forest Guards Initiative , an armed force comprising volunteers throughout the country tasked with keeping forested areas free from kidnappers who use them as a corridor to kidnap. But kidnappers seem to be making progress on a daily basis.

Before long, the relative said, “everybody knows that he is rich.” Many in the community believe the businessman was betrayed by someone who knew him. The source alleged that an insider tipped off the kidnappers , who later stormed the man’s home and abducted him alongside several men of another tribe who were with him at the time. Negotiations stretched on for months before the family reportedly paid ₦31 million in ransom. The other men from another tribe were eventually released. The businessman was not because the captors reportedly told the family that he was “too weak already” and “cannot walk”, so he would need help to come home and that whoever would come to pick him should come along with a bag of rice, drinks and medicine.

A Country Under Siege Nigeria’s insecurity has been plaguing the country for years, but attacks have become considerably worse in the northern part of the country in recent months. A June 2026 report from Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) shows that more than 400 kidnappings have taken place this year alone, violent extremist organizations like Boko Haram and bandits in the North East and the North West make use of Kidnappings as a major source of revenue over the years.

According to an annual report by Economics of Kidnap Report, their research between July 2024 to June 2025, says that not less than 4722 people have been kidnapped in a record of 997 incidents, wherein close to 762 people have been killed, and over 48 billion has been requested by the kidnappers and they have only been able to get 2.57 billion naira that is close to 6% of the total money they requested.

The facts do not need to be argued the scale of the crisis on the ground is not in dispute. Over 50 children were abducted from three schools in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, namely, Government Day Secondary School, Mussa Central Primary School and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Secondary School in May 2026. Since then, kidnappings have spread far from the north-east. In the same month, teachers and pupils were kidnapped in Oriire Local Government, Oyo State, and two teachers, Michael Oyedokun and Deacon Bello Isiaka Babatunde were killed by the kidnappers, to send a threat to the public and government, in addition to the routine ransom demands made from the captives.

Betrayal Along the Road The family had to have someone they trusted enough to do this. They tracked him down as a commercial driver from Ijara Isin in southern Kwara, where he is reputed to be a good man. One of the abducted man’s relatives is the driver’s patient. The source said the, “the driver, man in his 40s left in his own car with a young relative in his mid-20 and the chairman of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), who is also in his mids 40, and took a motorbike in the boot in case the car failed to reach the area. “The relative who was in contact with the kidnappers, was supposed to direct the driver to the meeting point but instead he gave the kidnappers the driver’s phone number”, the pick-up group unaware of the plans of the kidnappers were diverted after they were called and went to straight into the kidnapper’s camp”, according to the source.

The source also said, “the driver called on the way before he got there that, he feels he has been betrayed that how did his number get to the kidnappers”. This made everyone guessed that the relative betrayed him. The driver, the relative and the chairman of the OPC were all kidnapped when they arrived. The community was strung even more taut, and many now believe that perhaps the “weak” businessman has already passed away, and the pick-up group were only part of the bait and switch. The kidnappers then decided to place a demand of N200 million to secure the release of the new hostages.

An Uncertain Fate The driver’s standing in the local community has offered little reassurance. He was well known in Kwara and Kogi and had many contacts, having for years provided and run vehicles for other people on a weekly basis, which one community member suggested would be against him. The source said, “He might have met many people in the forest, which he knows; his release will take the grace of God. The situation got even worse when the driver’s vehicle was subsequently discovered abandoned in Kogi State in the bush and more than 300 kilometres from the scene in the town of Idofian near the Kwara State capital, again without any explanation of how or by whom it got there. The status of the businessman, the driver, and the others arrested in Kogi remains unknown.

United We stand In February 2026, a town in Kwara state, Oba, faced severe attacks from kidnappers. A security operative in the town said, “a man was abducted and after all back and forth, 3 million ransom fee and payment were agreed between the family and the kidnappers, the security operatives received intel that the man was dead and the ransom was not paid”. The source said in, “in May 2026, the kidnappers came not for human beings but for cows, the security operatives gave them a hot chase after they received intel, the kidnappers fled into the bush leaving the cows”. The security operative who was interviewed made it clear that “kidnappers are not strong enough to attack a community without and insider information, intel is very crucial to tackle this issue and if everyone takes security of their location serious like the way they do in their town, the kidnappers won’t be able to strike”.