Boko Haram Gives Nigeria New Condition To Free 13 Hostages

 

More than three months after they vanished into the Sambisa Forest corridor, 13 kidnapped travellers in Nigeria are still waiting for freedom, while their families are still waiting for someone in authority to say something beyond silence. The latest twist is that suspected Boko Haram terrorists are now demanding that the Nigerian government negotiate with them and pay a ransom before the captives, including a woman and her seven month old baby, will be released.

The victims were abducted on April 15, 2026, along the dangerous Biu Damaturu highway in Borno State after heavily armed insurgents intercepted two commercial Golf Wagon vehicles near the notorious Kamuya axis. The drivers and some elderly and visibly ill passengers were released, but 13 others, including women and a sick infant, were forced into the bush.

A family member revealed that one of the captives was recently allowed to call his brother in Abuja. During the conversation, he confirmed his identity, recalled the exact date of the abduction and relayed the terrorists' message that the government must negotiate and pay before anyone would be freed. Apparently, after 106 days in captivity, even proof of life now comes with conditions attached.

The families say they immediately informed the authorities after receiving the call, yet they claim no response has followed. Their frustration has only grown because they believe both the Federal Government and the Borno State Government have largely remained silent throughout the ordeal.

One of the women kidnapped is also believed to have given birth while in captivity, raising serious concerns about the health and survival of both mother and child. Another husband, Musa Abdullahi, had earlier recalled how his wife begged the gunmen to spare her because their seven month old baby had only recently been discharged from hospital, but the insurgents allegedly tore up her employment documents after discovering she had just secured a government job and forced her into the forest anyway.

The families also allege that most of those abducted were Christians, with only two or three Muslims reportedly among the 13 captives. Another relative described their situation by saying they were dying in silence as they waited for help that never seemed to arrive.

The latest contact is the first indication that the kidnappers may be willing to negotiate, but it also places the government in a difficult position because Nigerian law criminalises ransom payments to terrorists and the Federal Government has repeatedly insisted it does not negotiate with them, arguing that paying ransoms only encourages more kidnappings. For the families, however, policy debates mean very little when their loved ones have spent more than 100 days waiting for rescue. Sometimes the hardest place to survive is not the forest, but the space between official policy and human desperation.