Armed criminals ambushed and abducted a former Nigerian defence spokesman and his wife on a highway in northwestern Katsina state this Saturday.
Retired Major General Rabe Abubakar and his spouse were seized around midmorning while travelling to a wedding in the state capital.
Local police and security agencies attributed the operation to “bandits,” a regional term for notorious kidnapping-for-ransom and cattle-rustling gangs.
The assailants opened fire on the couple’s maroon sedan, wounding the driver before fleeing into the bush with their captives.
The injured driver managed to escape the violent encounter and is currently receiving medical treatment at a local hospital.
This high-profile ambush highlights a severe breakdown in regional security, as criminal networks increasingly target travelers on major highways.
Katsina remains one of several volatile states in central and northwestern Nigeria terrorized by heavily armed networks of criminal gangs.
These syndicates frequently raid vulnerable villages, abduct residents for ransom, and burn homes after looting valuable community resources.
Abubakar is the second retired military general taken by local bandits, following the fifty-six-day captivity of Brigadier General Maharazu Tsiga last year.
The daring weekend abduction underscores the complete failure of multiple state-backed peace negotiations aimed at curbing this relentless regional violence.
