Over 400 former Boko Haram captives freed in Nigeria handed to authorities

The Nigerian army on Monday handed over more than 400 women and children to local authorities after they were freed earlier this year from the jihadist group Boko Haram in Borno state, northeastern Nigeria.

Since 2009, a jihadist insurgency led by Boko Haram and later its rival, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions in the northeast of Africa’s most populous country.

Mass kidnappings, often followed by ransom-driven releases, are regularly carried out by the Islamist militants.

The army said Sunday that about 360 people were freed over the weekend, not through Boko Haram’s release but via a military operation using intelligence. Another 82 captives had been freed two to three weeks earlier, according to Borno state governor Babagana Umara Zulum on Monday, bringing the total number of rescued former captives to approximately 434.

The victims were abducted from the village of Ngoshe, less than 10 kilometres from the Cameroon border in the Gwoza hills, a Boko Haram stronghold. The area has repeatedly come under attack by Islamist fighters.

“We thank Almighty Allah for this rescue,” said one of the freed women, 43-year-old Hassana Buba, speaking at the Pulka displacement camp where the former captives were handed over to local authorities. “We are very grateful and we are also celebrating this,” she added.

Authorities deny paying ransoms, although analysts say it is a common practice by both the government and the victims’ families. According to a report by SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based consultancy, about $1.66 million in ransoms were paid from July 2024 to June 2025 to various armed groups in Nigeria, including jihadists, bandits, and separatists.