Former Senate Chief Whip and lawmaker representing Borno South, Senator Ali Ndume has described the abduction of 416 people in Muoshi, Borno State, by Boko Haram insurgents as both “unbelievable and shocking,” but confirmed that the incident is true, noting that entire communities in the area have been devastated and displaced by years of insurgent activity.
“It was very sad. You know, especially when I know so many of them. That’s my local government; it’s a ward in my local government. They were all taken from the same area, a village known as Muoshi with a population of more than 5,000 upward. I know the place very well. It’s like 12 kilometers from the main highway, the Maiduguri-Mubi Road, and it’s a one-way drive except for diversions into other villages. At the beginning, I didn’t believe that they had abducted 416. Initially, those abducted were 547 or thereabout. It was unbelievable, it was shocking, but it is true,” he said.
Recall that Boko Haram-linked militants recently abducted hundreds of residents in Muoshi, Borno State. The attack, reportedly involves mass kidnappings and ransom demands.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, Senator Ndume confirmed that the victims are the most recent group abducted in the ongoing crisis, noting that they were taken in early March and have remained in captivity since then.
“Yes, the latest addition. Taken on the 3rd of March last month. So they have been in their custody since then.”
He added the abductees first reached out in a video message to the Southern Borno Youth Alliance, which helped confirm the scale of the incident and established that 416 people were indeed in captivity.
“In their video, they called out to an organization called the Southern Borno Youth Alliance. They sent the first video to them; that was when we really confirmed they had custody of 416 people,” he said.
He explained that while awareness of the attack existed due to widespread displacement of residents into nearby IDP camps, the exact number of abductees only became clear after recent video evidence emerged.
“We were taking count because almost half or more of the population had moved to a village 12 kilometers away from Gwoza and settled as internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the primary school. It is when they are there that they take stock of who is there and who is not. There were some people that escaped or were claimed to be released. But until this video, which was just released literally a day ago—well, there were two videos, and the latest one is causing the serious threat.”
Senator Ndume added that although the latest footage has heightened urgency, he aligns with the government’s position that ransom should not be paid to insurgents.
“As I said, I personally choose to stand with the government on this: that you don’t pay ransom,” he stressed.
He maintained that security agencies are actively engaged in efforts to secure the release of the abductees, noting that government response mechanisms are already in motion.
“The security experts in this field—and it’s not a new thing, not only in Nigeria—the experts involved are supposed to be truly engaged. I have talked to various security agencies and those that matter, and they are working on it. At this stage, I would prefer to leave it like that because the Nigerian government is not just sitting back doing nothing. In fact, I did some investigation and made some contacts even this afternoon. The government is on its toes now to see how they can go about it,” he shared.
Declining to go into operational details, Senator Ndume said security decisions must remain within the purview of intelligence and defence agencies, stressing that the government should use all lawful means to secure the release of the abducted victims without compromising national security.
“I don’t think this conversation should extend to this level, because as I said, it’s a security matter. The terrorists or the insurgents even have more information than you think. The bottom line is that government should do whatever it can legitimately, without compromising legalities, sovereignty, or the authority of the Nigerian government, to get these people out,” he urged.
On whether he supports back-channel negotiations, Senator Ndume said he is open to any discreet efforts that could help secure the release of the abducted victims, adding that both public appeals and private interventions may be useful.
“Of course. The main thing now, and why I’m here, is to appeal. Being on this program goes a long way; we may be able to have somebody who says, ‘Here I am, I’ll do something about it.’ We had this kind of situation before. These individuals can help the government or the intelligence community.”
Addressing the state of insecurity in Borno, Senator Ndume said gains against insurgency are being reversed by funding delays, poor equipment, and low troop morale, calling for better military support and welfare.
“At one time, we were very comfortable because the threat of insurgency had drastically gone down with the effort of the state governor, the federal government, and the armed forces. Things were really improving. I must give credit to this government when the President declared a state of emergency on security. The funding for the military in 2024 was very good. But 2025 is something else.
“The release is poor. The capital component besides the recurrent has been challenging, and that affects the performance of the military and procurement. Daily Trust made an analysis recently: for capital in the armed forces, the release was not up to 6 or 7%, which is not good. I’ve been proposing that the budget of the armed forces should be front-loaded. Most of the equipment they use is not something you can just take off the shelf. Also, you can have an MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle) of three or four billion naira destroyed with a rocket-propelled grenade at once.
“I’m so worried these days that even the morale of our soldiers has started waning. We do not appreciate what our soldiers out there are doing. We don’t have enough drones,” he lamented.
According to the lawmaker, responsibility for addressing the crisis lies with the government and security leadership, stressing that urgent action is required.
“Of course, the government is responsible. We only have one government, one Commander-in-Chief, and one Senator representing that area. Those are the people responsible. We are crying out to see if any Nigerian can make a difference in this frustrating situation. We want to see the government truly do something,” he said.
The Senator representing Borno South appealed directly to the abductors to release the victims, describing them as innocent civilians drawn from the same local community and urging compassion given their shared origins and faith background.
“To those captives—and I hope they can hear me—they know me very well; I’m their son. The people that abducted them are still from our area; you can tell from their accent and speech in the video. I’m appealing to the captors to please release these people because they are their own and they didn’t do anything. They are innocent,” he pleaded.
He added: “If you say you are fighting a religious war, they are Muslims. Out of that 416, we did some detailing and it seems over 350 are Muslims. We have a few Christians there because that’s how Muoshi is. This brings out clearly that there’s nothing like ‘Christian genocide’ in my area; they abducted everybody—Christians and Muslims.”
He noted that efforts are already underway through intermediaries to engage the abductors given the 72-hour ultimatum.
“We have communicated through the person going in between to say, ‘Look, you just don’t say 72 hours; do this and do that.’ We are appealing because the threat serves no purpose,” he concluded.
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