•Tinubu and HURIWA logo
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly to urgently amend Nigeria’s Counter-Terrorism Act to classify kidnappers as terrorists, describing kidnapping as one of the most potent threats to national security and economic stability.
Quoting damning figures from a new report by SBM Intelligence, HURIWA noted that at least 257 people were kidnapped in the South-East alone between July 2024 and June 2025, representing 5.6 per cent of the national total of 4,722 abductions, reports Vanguard.
In a press statement, HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said: “The government must act now. We hope the government is not waiting for one of the governors or a very prominent national legislator to be abducted by kidnappers before swift, comprehensive, and effective steps are taken to combat kidnappings.”
Describing the failure of political leaders to treat kidnapping with the urgency it demands as disgraceful, HURIWA decried how “a significant percentage of the security agents paid and maintained with taxpayers’ money are deployed to specially protect top public office holders while ordinary citizens are abandoned to their fate.”
HURIWA pointed to SBM’s report titled “Locust Business – The Economics of Nigeria’s Kidnap Industry: A 2025 Update”, which shows Enugu leading with 123 kidnapping cases, followed by Anambra (63), Imo (42), Abia (27), and Ebonyi (2). Kidnappers reportedly demanded over ₦1 billion in ransom from victims in the region but received only ₦157.55 million—6.1 per cent of the total ₦2.56 billion collected nationwide.
“The Southeast and South-South face targeted religious abductions and financial extortion,” HURIWA said, quoting the SBM report, adding that “clergy and professionals are among the most affected.”
Citing a worsening pattern of kidnappings of Christian clerics, HURIWA condemned the recent abduction of Rev. Fr. Wilfred Ezemba of St. Paul Parish, Agaliga-Efabo, in Kogi State. It also recalled a report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), which revealed that 19,100 churches have been destroyed by terrorists in Nigeria over the past 16 years.
“There is a clear nexus between terrorism and kidnappings. The law must reflect that reality. We are calling for kidnappings to be classified as capital offences, with the severest punishment death by hanging prescribed. Governors must also be willing to sign execution warrants in record time,” HURIWA stated.
Taking direct aim at South-East political leaders, HURIWA accused Governor Hope Uzodinma, Chairman of the APC Governors’ Forum, of spending excessive time in Abuja “welcoming or waving goodbye” to President Tinubu at the airport while insecurity engulfs his state and region.
“We appeal to the governors, political office holders, and civil society, religious and traditional leaders in the South-East to convene an emergency regional security summit. The time to act is now. The bloodshed, fear, and economic paralysis in the region must end.”
HURIWA emphasised that only bold, decisive actions both legislative and executive can reverse the worsening security crisis. Anything less, the group warned, would be tantamount to complicity by silence.
