MAGA, KEBBBI STATE
The relatively quiet Kebbi State has been shattered by a brutal attack, highlighting a compounding security crisis that sees traditional banditry operating side-by-side with a newly declared terrorist group, Lakurawa. The overnight abduction of twenty-five students from the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Danko/Wasagu local government area on November 17, 2025, serves as a repeat of the nation’s past tragedies, suggesting Kebbi is becoming the new frontline in Nigeria’s war against armed non-state actors.
A statement by the Kebbi State Command’s Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Nafiu Abubakar Kotarkoshi, confirmed that the incident, which occurred around 0400hrs, saw a gang of heavily armed bandits overpower school defenses, resulting in a gun duel with police, the death of one person, Hassan Makuku, and the injury of Ali Shehu.
This mass abduction is the second major school kidnapping in Kebbi State after bandits in June 2021, abducted students of the Federal Government Girls College in Birnin Yauri.
As of the time of filing this report, no group has publicly claimed responsibility for the attack. This is typical for the armed bandit groups who operate primarily for ransom, though the possibility of the Lakurawa terrorist group being involved remains a high concern given their confirmed activity in the region.
The experience of the kidnapped girls is one of profound and devastating trauma. When girls are abducted, they often endure torture and rape. In the hands of extremist groups, they risk being subjected to forced conversion, forced marriage, and sexual enslavement.
The raid on the Maga school by heavily armed bandits is characteristic of the criminal enterprise of mass abductions for ransom that plagues the Northwest. Unfortunately, traditional banditry is now compounded by the presence of Lakurawa, a proscribed terrorist group with suspected affiliations to jihadist factions in Mali and Niger.
