300 Remain in Boko Haram Captivity after Ngoshe Raid, Terrorists Plan to Rename Community

At least 300 residents of Ngoshe village in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State remain unaccounted for after a midnight attack by Boko Haram terrorists on March 4, 2026, with credible indications that many of the abducted individuals – including women and children – are being subjected to forced labour and enslavement in the group’s hideouts.

The terrorist group, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, had publicly claimed responsibility for the assault in a one-minute, thirty-second video circulated on the internet. In the footage, a masked leader declared that males and females had been slaughtered and the survivors enslaved. “It was Almighty Allah that said that we should enslave them and go with them,” he said.

The speaker further announced the group’s intention to permanently occupy Ngoshe, rename it, and convert it into a province under their control. “By the grace of God, we are going to stay in Ngoshe and make it part of our province and we are going to do the Eid-el-Fitr Salah after the end of Ramadan in Ngoshe,” he added.

The District Secretary of Ngoshe, Shuaibu Dabawa, told The PUNCH that more than 300 people were abducted. “When they attacked, we heard sporadic gunshots, then fled into the bush for safety, where we spent the night. More than 300 people were abducted by terrorists during the attack,” he said.

Borno State Commissioner for Information and Internal Security, Usman Tar, confirmed that verification of missing persons is ongoing. “On missing persons, we are in the process of verification; the actual figure is yet to be ascertained,” he said. Tar added that displaced survivors are receiving humanitarian assistance from the State Emergency Management Agency, including rice, sugar, millet and blankets, while healthcare and sanitation teams have been deployed to prevent disease outbreaks.

Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno South and a native of the affected area, condemned the attack and urged President Bola Tinubu to brief Nigerians regularly on counter-insurgency efforts. He called for sustained military operations targeting insurgents’ strongholds in the Lake Chad Basin, Sambisa Forest and Mandara Mountains, noting that the Ngoshe raid was coordinated from multiple bases using known routes.

Ndume also proposed establishing air component centres in the three northern geopolitical zones equipped with attack helicopters, frontloading security agencies’ budgets for faster arms procurement, and creating a situation room at the Presidential Villa for real-time monitoring and direct public communication. “Since the President declared a state of emergency, he should have a situation room in his office in the Villa. He should use that to brief Nigerians directly,” he said.

The Ngoshe attack is the latest in a pattern of intensified assaults on civilian communities in Borno, where Boko Haram and rival faction ISWAP continue to exploit remote locations despite sustained military operations. The abduction and enslavement claims have renewed domestic and international concern over the humanitarian crisis in the North-East, where thousands remain displaced and vulnerable to forced recruitment, sexual violence and forced labour.

No official military rescue operation for the Ngoshe abductees had been publicly confirmed, though security agencies are understood to be actively pursuing intelligence leads.