More than 360 people who were kidnapped by Boko Haram from a mainly Muslim community in Borno State have been freed from a remote mountain hideout. The relief is immense. The arguments over who freed them started immediately.
The captives were taken in early March from around Ngoshe, near the Cameroon border. Fighters struck as people were breaking their Ramadan fast. Entire families vanished into the bush. For weeks, they were held deep in the Mandara mountains. Then suddenly they were free. The circumstances of how that happened depend entirely on who you ask.
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The Nigerian military says it launched an unprecedented intelligence led operation weeks in the planning. Troops moved under cover of darkness. Speed, precision, and overwhelming combat power sent insurgents fleeing into the surrounding terrain. Others surrendered. Military spokesperson Lt-Col Haruna M Sani called it one of the most significant hostage rescue operations in the northeast. Photos and videos released by the army show freed captives sitting under trees overnight, waiting for transport.
The Borno South Youth Initiative tells a completely different story. They say they mediated the unconditional release through direct contact with the militants. They put the number of freed captives at 416, not 360. Samaila Kaigama, president of the group, posted a video hitting out at government boys claiming glory for our efforts. The dispute is now public and bitter.
What is not disputed is the suffering. Daniel Bwala, a special adviser to President Tinubu, confirmed that two infants died from exhaustion due to prolonged captivity and harsh terrain. Two babies who survived the Kidnapping did not survive the conditions of their imprisonment. The freed hostages are receiving medical care. Some who escaped are believed to have fled into Cameroon and efforts are being made to bring them home.
Mass abductions have become a brutal business model across Nigeria. Boko Haram pioneered the tactic with the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping. Around 90 of those girls remain missing. Now a range of armed groups use kidnapping to raise funds, targeting schools, churches, mosques, and remote villages. Ransom payments by desperate families and intermediaries have fuelled the cycle. Paying ransoms is illegal but it happens constantly.
Boko Haram no longer controls the vast territory it once held. But the group and its splinters remain active and dangerous. Earlier this year, a small contingent of US soldiers deployed to Nigeria to train the armed forces and help with intelligence. The threats are overlapping. Islamist insurgency. Kidnapping gangs. Land clashes. Separatist unrest. The hostages are free. The crisis is not over.
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