ABUJA, Feb 2, 2024 (AFP) – Gunmen killed a Nigerian traditional monarch and kidnapped his wife after raiding his palace, police said, as outrage grows over a spate of abductions nationwide.
The attackers stormed the palace of Oba Aremu Olusegun Cole in southwestern Kwara state, shot him dead and abducted his wife and another person on Thursday, according to police.
State police said they had launched an investigation and beefed up security.
Similar attacks regularly take place in Nigeria, which is struggling with a security crisis on several fronts.
Two traditional rulers were shot dead by unknown gunmen in neighbouring Ekiti state on Monday.
Last year President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to power promising to address insecurity — including jihadists in the northeast, criminal militias in the northwest and agrowing intercommunal violence in the centre of the country — but critics say the violence is spinning out of control.
Nigerian risk consultancy SBM Intelligence said it had recorded that 3,964 people were abducted since Tinubu took office in May.
At the start of the year, criminals abducted five young sisters near the capital Abuja and killed one when a ransom deadline passed, sparking a national outcry.