RUSSIA OFFERS MILITARY SUPPORT TO NIGERIA IN FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM

Wed 26 November 2025:

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated on Tuesday that Moscow is prepared to back Nigeria’s anti-terrorism initiatives, while commending Abuja for its “serious efforts” in combating extremist organizations.

Nigeria faces persistent violence from armed groups including Boko Haram, which has operated since 2002 from Borno State and remains active despite major losses inflicted by the Nigerian military in 2015.

Zakharova said Moscow’s stance “remains unchanged,” noting that terrorism is a global threat and stressing Russia’s readiness to provide assistance in coordination with the international community, UN agencies and the African Union.

“Russia is prepared to continue providing the necessary assistance to its Nigerian partners,” she said, adding that Nigeria’s armed forces and law enforcement agencies have “accumulated significant experience in effectively countering terrorist threats.”

She underlined that civilians, including women and children, continue to suffer the most from attacks, along with government and security personnel.

Renewed attacks on schools have prompted authorities to close educational institutions in several states, while President Bola Tinubu canceled a planned trip to South Africa for the G20 summit earlier this month due to rising security concerns.

No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

Ibrahim M Ndamitso, a journalist who has been following this story very closely, told Al Jazeera that the incident took place in the north of Niger, which has “predominantly suffered banditry activity in recent times”.

Ndamitso, who is based in Minna, the capital of Niger state, added that the bandit groups have made “it a transit point around the north of Niger, taking animals, stealing people’s cows, picking people for ransoms and all of these things”.

Bulama Bukarti, a security analyst and a Nigerian human rights lawyer based in London, told Al Jazeera that such kidnapping attacks, especially in the northwest and the north-central parts of Nigeria, are carried out for economic motives.

“What these gangs do normally is to keep these children in captivity for weeks, sometimes months, and extort ransoms from either their families or from the government,” Bukarti said.

“These ransoms can run into hundreds of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars before releasing them.”

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Are these kidnappings religiously motivated?

Cases of kidnapping, especially for ransom, are on the rise in Nigeria. However, they are carried out by amorphous groups of armed bandits.

These bandits do not seem to be affiliated with any religious or armed groups such as Boko Haram or the ISIL affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP), whose attacks are motivated by a sectarian agenda.

As of 2020, Muslims made up a majority of Nigeria’s population, accounting for 56.1 percent of the population, while Christians comprised 43.4 percent, according to estimates by the Pew Research Center.

The recent attacks on schools and some churches have drawn the attention of US President Donald Trump, who has claimed that Nigeria’s Christians are facing genocide. He has threatened United States military intervention in Nigeria, alleging that the country is failing to protect Christians from persecution. He also threatened to cut aid to Nigeria.

“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

Pope Leo XIV has also called for the release of the kidnapped students.

“I make a heartfelt appeal for the immediate release of the hostages and urge the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their release,” the pope said on Sunday.

Nigeria’s government has admitted to a security problem, but has denied the claims that Christians are being persecuted.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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