Vigilantes Rise as Bandits Tighten Their Grip on Rural Nigeria | APT

Volunteer vigilante groups are stepping into a deadly security vacuum across rural Nigeria as armed bandits intensify attacks, abduct schoolchildren and overrun remote communities. With police, military and intelligence units largely absent in deep rural areas, thousands of civilians now patrol villages armed with basic weapons, risking their lives to protect families and farmland. Many vigilantes have been killed while confronting heavily armed bandit groups, yet they continue joint operations with the army and police as they search forested regions for hundreds of abducted students. As fear spreads and schools shut down, these volunteers have become the only barrier standing between terrified residents and relentless bandit violence.
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