• Police arrest suspected bandit kingpin, two others in Zamfara
• Gunmen abduct retired general, wife in Katsina

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, to invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter over Nigeria’s escalating insecurity, amid fresh incidents of banditry and abduction in Zamfara and Katsina states.

In an open letter signed by SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, at the weekend, the organisation called on the UN chief to bring Nigeria’s worsening insecurity, marked by mass abductions, killings, attacks on civilians, displacement and other grave human rights violations, to the attention of the UN Security Council.

SERAP said the deteriorating security situation was evident in repeated attacks and violence in Oyo, Benue, Borno, Plateau, Kaduna, Zamfara and several other parts of the country.

The organisation argued that the scale, persistence and regional implications of the violence posed a threat to international peace and security, with the potential to worsen instability across the region.

According to SERAP, Article 99 of the UN Charter was specifically designed for situations requiring urgent preventive diplomacy, sustained international scrutiny and coordinated global action.

“Our appeal is grounded in the preventive mandate of the UN Charter and the urgent need to address a rapidly deteriorating situation in the country,” the organisation stated.

Citing Article 99, SERAP noted that it provides that: “The Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”

The group added that placing Nigeria’s insecurity and human rights crisis on the Security Council’s formal agenda would ensure sustained international attention to attacks on civilians, including killings, abductions and displacement.

“The crisis in Nigeria is not merely a domestic law-enforcement issue. Its effects increasingly implicate regional peace and security through cross-border movement of armed groups and weapons, large-scale displacement, growing instability extending beyond Nigeria’s borders, and weakening human rights protection and rule-of-law institutions,” SERAP stated.

Meanwhile, operatives of the Zamfara State Police Command’s Violence Crime Response Unit (VCRU) have arrested a suspected notorious bandit leader, Ali Bahago Danakulu, alongside two alleged lieutenants in Kaura Namoda Local Government Area.

Police spokesperson, DSP Yazid Abubakar, said the arrest followed credible intelligence on a criminal gang allegedly terrorising residents of Kasuwan Daji and neighbouring communities.

The arrested suspects were identified as Ali Bahago Danakulu and Hassan Dan Kure, both of Kasuwan Daji, as well as Dahiru Lawali of Gidan Ango.

According to the police, the suspects had long been on the command’s watchlist over alleged involvement in armed robbery, banditry and other violent crimes.

Yazid said preliminary investigations indicated that the suspects belonged to an armed gang allegedly led by Ali Bahago, who had been linked to several criminal activities in the area.

He added that one member of the gang was neutralised during the operation, while three suspects were arrested.

The suspects are currently in custody as investigations continue, while efforts are ongoing to apprehend other members of the gang.

The command reaffirmed its commitment to sustained operations against armed criminal groups and urged residents to provide timely and credible information to security agencies.

In Katsina State, the police command confirmed the abduction of a retired military officer, Maj. Gen. Rabe Abubakar and his wife in Matazu Local Government Area.

The couple was abducted on Saturday at about 11:00 a.m. while travelling along the Musawa-Matazu road to Katsina for a wedding ceremony.

They were reportedly travelling in a red Peugeot 406 saloon vehicle driven by their driver when armed men suspected to be bandits intercepted them and whisked them into a nearby forest.

The retired officer, who served as Director of Defence Information between 2015 and 2017, was abducted alongside his wife, while the driver reportedly escaped despite sustaining a gunshot wound.

Security operatives later recovered the vehicle, which is currently parked at the Matazu Divisional Headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force.

A video of the vehicle circulating online showed multiple bullet holes on the windscreen, window glass, and rear bumper, alongside personal belongings of the abducted couple inside the car.

A security message said to have been circulated by retired Brig. Gen. Sagir Musa raised an alarm over the incident and called for urgent intervention by security agencies.

The incident comes about a year after another retired senior military officer, Brig. Gen. Maharazu Tsiga, a former Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), was abducted in Bakori Local Government Area of Katsina State and held captive for nearly two months before regaining freedom.

Confirming the latest incident, spokesperson for the Katsina State Police Command, DSP Abubakar Aliyu, said efforts were ongoing to rescue the abducted retired officer and his wife.