₦airaland Forum

When the All Progressives Congress (APC) came to power in 2015, it did so on the strength of a promise that resonated deeply with Nigerians: security. The party pledged to defeat insurgency, restore law and order, and ensure that citizens could live, work, and learn without fear. More than a decade later, the record of mass school kidnappings across the country raises a painful question: has the APC fulfilled its most basic responsibility of protecting Nigerian lives?

The answer, judging from available data, is difficult to defend.

According to records compiled from ACLED and media reports, Nigeria experienced 26 mass school kidnapping incidents between April 2014 and May 2026, with 2,416 students abducted. While the first major incident occurred before the APC assumed office, the vast majority of these kidnappings happened during APC-led administrations at the federal level.

The Numbers Tell a Disturbing Story

State Date Students Kidnapped

Borno Apr 2014 276
Yobe Feb 2018 110
Katsina Dec 2020 303
Katsina Dec 2020 80
Niger Feb 2021 27
Zamfara Feb 2021 317
Kaduna Mar 2021 39
Kaduna Apr 2021 20
Niger May 2021 100
Kebbi Jun 2021 96
Kaduna Jul 2021 153
Katsina Aug 2021 19
Zamfara Sep 2021 73
Nassarawa Jan 2023 6
Kano Sep 2023 20
Zamfara Sep 2023 24
Nassarawa Dec 2023 7
Ekiti Jan 2024 6
Sokoto Mar 2024 15
Kaduna Mar 2024 287
Niger Nov 2025 303
Kebbi Nov 2025 25
Kogi Apr 2026 23
Borno May 2026 42
Nassarawa May 2026 6
Oyo May 2026 39


The pattern is impossible to ignore. Between December 2020 and September 2021 alone, thousands of students were exposed to a wave of coordinated attacks across Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna, Niger, and Kebbi States. Entire schools became hunting grounds for armed groups that operated with alarming confidence.

The kidnapping of 317 students in Zamfara in February 2021, 303 students in Katsina in December 2020, and 303 students in Niger State in November 2025 rank among some of the largest school abductions in Nigeria's history. These are not ordinary criminal incidents. They represent catastrophic security failures.

From Chibok to a National Crisis

The abduction of 276 schoolgirls in Borno State in April 2014 shocked the world and drew international condemnation. It was supposed to be a wake-up call for Nigeria's security establishment. Instead, the years that followed saw school kidnappings evolve from an insurgency tactic into a lucrative criminal enterprise.

Under APC governments, the crisis spread beyond the North-East. States in the North-West and North-Central became frequent targets. More recently, incidents have appeared in states such as Oyo, Ekiti, and Kogi, suggesting that insecurity is no longer confined to traditional conflict zones.

This geographic spread undermines the argument that school kidnappings are solely a Boko Haram problem. The evidence points to a broader collapse in deterrence, intelligence gathering, rural policing, and rapid-response capability.

A Government Must Be Judged by Results

APC supporters often point out that insecurity did not begin in 2015. That is correct. However, governments are elected to solve problems, not merely inherit them.

After more than eleven years of APC control of the federal government, Nigerians have every right to assess outcomes. The outcome reflected in these figures is stark:

26 mass school attacks

2,416 students kidnapped

Multiple incidents involving more than 100 students

School kidnappings continuing as recently as May 2026

Expansion of attacks into new regions


If security was the APC's defining promise, these numbers raise serious questions about its performance.

The Human Cost Behind the Statistics

Statistics can sometimes hide the human tragedy they represent. Every figure in this data set is a child whose education was interrupted. Every attack represents families plunged into uncertainty and fear. Every successful kidnapping sends a message to parents that schools may no longer be safe places.

The result has been school closures, reduced enrollment, psychological trauma, and growing distrust in the state's ability to protect its citizens. In some communities, parents have withdrawn children from boarding schools altogether, fearing they may become the next targets.

No nation can build a prosperous future when children are afraid to attend school.

The Verdict

Security is the first duty of government. Without it, every other achievement becomes secondary. Roads, bridges, economic reforms, and political rhetoric cannot compensate for a situation in which armed groups repeatedly invade schools and abduct children.

The data from April 2014 to May 2026 paints a sobering picture. While insecurity did not begin under the APC, the persistence, scale, and spread of mass school kidnappings during its years in power suggest a government that has struggled to provide the level of protection Nigerians were promised.

Twenty-six attacks. Two thousand four hundred and sixteen students kidnapped.

For many Nigerians, those numbers are more than statistics. They are evidence of a security promise that remains unfulfilled.