Nigeria in April 2026: the most important developments in security
Nigeria's security news in April 2026 was dominated by a Nigerian Air Force airstrike on a market on the border between Borno and Yobe states on 12 April. The military said it was conducting an operation against Boko Haram in the area. Initial estimates of the dead ranged from over 30 to as many as 200 civilians, with many more injured. Some reports called it a military misfire. The Yobe State government said the strike was not a mistake, and an aide to President Bola Tinubu said those hit were collaborators of the militants.
The second theme was attacks by armed groups. Attackers hit churches in Kaduna state on Easter Sunday, killing at least seven and abducting others, and troops later rescued 31 hostages. Dozens more were killed in separate Easter attacks in Benue and Kaduna. In Borno, a brigadier general and 17 soldiers were feared killed by Boko Haram, and another commanding officer was killed days later. Boko Haram also kidnapped six Chadian travellers and threatened to execute 400 captive women and children unless a ransom of 2.7 million pounds was paid. On 27 April gunmen killed 29 people in Adamawa state, the Islamic State group claimed a separate attack that killed 29, and gunmen took 23 pupils from an orphanage in the north. Attacks by bandits also killed at least 20 and at least 21 people in separate incidents, and bandits abducted people in Zamfara.
The government's response included a list naming 48 people, among them Tukur Mamu and Simon Ekpa, as financiers of terrorism, which the Indigenous People of Biafra condemned as "state-sponsored deception". The United States praised Nigeria for 386 terrorism convictions but ordered non-emergency staff to leave its embassy, citing the security situation, and opposition figure Peter Obi called its advisory a "bad omen". Police in Kaduna arrested 41 suspected kidnappers, and Ekiti state launched an operation named Operation Comb the Bush.
Six men were charged over an alleged coup plot, and in Lagos immigration officers arrested 125 foreigners and planned to repatriate 82.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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