Now, in a nation that has been plagued by armed attacks on civilians for more than a decade, people are wondering if these attacks are not slowing down because the criminal and security agencies are working together.
It is not unreasonable to believe that some of these groups are aided by the military, Bashir Galma, a security analyst and retired army chief, told the BBC.
“I know that there have been cases where plans were made to attack the area and information is available from both sides [militant Islamist group] Boko Haram or another criminal group,” he said, suggesting that he be tipped off.
At least 3,000 abductions and 3,580 killings by armed groups took place between January 2024 and April 2025 alone, data from Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission records.
The alarming increase in kidnappings is attributed to gunmen known locally as bandits, as well as attacks by Boko Haram insurgents and its offshoot, Iswap.
Attacks on schools have also been in the headlines even though this has been a problem for years. Between April 2014 and May 2026, there were 26 major attacks on schools in which at least 2,416 students were kidnapped, the International Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) said.
Ransom payments are estimated at millions of dollars per year, according to official data.
In April 2025, the governor of the disputed Borno state in Nigeria, Babagana Zulum, alleged that informants and collaborators of the Boko Haram insurgency are working within the country’s military, political class and local communities.
“What we have to do is to strengthen intelligence and deal with them brutally,” he said at the security meeting.
Months later, a special military court sentenced three Nigerian soldiers to life imprisonment for their involvement in a massive arms and ammunition smuggling scheme. The army said it was guilty of theft, illegal sale of ammunition, and “helping the enemy”.
Security analyst Galma told the BBC that he believes the low pay is causing corruption in the military. There is also a “matter of opinion” – some employees may be secretly loyal to other groups, he said.
A serving soldier, who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity, admitted that there had been cases of soldiers being “caught working with the other side” but said such matters were often “hushed up and discussed internally”.
One man, freed after his family paid a 57m naira ($42,000; £31,000) ransom, described a disturbing scene when he was freed.
“They brought us down to one place and there were guards who shook hands with them and laughed,” he told the BBC, asking not to be named.
He believes that the security forces he saw may have received part of the ransom, although he has no evidence that this was the case.
Farmer Yahuza Isa, who was abducted in Zamfara district, expressed frustration shared by many victims.
“I also know where these criminals are,” he said. “Then why don’t you deal with them completely?”
One survivor, who endured a 30-day ordeal in late 2024, said he suspected a “high-level” encounter.
He explained that he heard a helicopter coming very close to the hidden camp where he was blindfolded.
“When I first heard I was expecting the Nigerian Air Force… to come and rescue us,” he said. “But we heard a helicopter go by after that.”
He heard it many times, which led him to believe that these gangs had some form of high-level cooperation.
