An escalating wave of violent kidnappings targeting High Court and appellate judges across Nigeria has thrown the nation’s legal system into crisis, leaving senior jurists exposed to armed syndicates and terror groups while paralysing court proceedings nationwide.
- +Judges undersiege: Systemic kidnappings paralyze Nigeria judiciary
Heavy weapon-wielding assailants have launched coordinated ambushes on judicial convoys and residential compounds across Kebbi, Borno, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and Edo states.
Heavy weapon-wielding assailants have launched coordinated ambushes on judicial convoys and residential compounds across Kebbi, Borno, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and Edo states. The surge in attacks, driven by multi-million naira ransom demands from North-West criminal syndicates and strategic campaigns by North-East terror groups like ISWAP, has triggered emergency court walkouts and exposed severe deficiencies in federal security infrastructure for the bench.
“An attack on a serving judicial officer is a matter of the utmost gravity,” said Justice Professor Oagile Bethuel Key Dingake of the African Judges and Jurists Forum (AJJF). “The safety and security of judicial officers are indispensable to preserving judicial independence, maintaining public confidence in the justice system, and upholding the rule of law.”
The crisis has spread rapidly from northern border towns to coastal hubs in the Niger Delta, characterised by a lethal trend: highway transit vulnerabilities and immediate, fatal violence directed at police escorts.
In Kebbi State, on July 26, 2026, Justice Faruku Hassan Bunza of the Kebbi State High Court was dragged from his residence by armed bandits shortly after returning from official business. Denouncing the abduction, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Afam Osigwe, SAN, called the incident “a dangerous challenge to the administration of justice” that “raises fresh concerns over the safety of judicial officers across the country.”
In a deadly terror-linked attack in Borno State on June 24, 2024, Justice Haruna Mshelia of the Borno State High Court, along with his wife, driver, and police orderly, was ambushed along the volatile Biu-Maiduguri highway by suspected ISWAP insurgents operating near the Sambisa Forest border. Meanwhile, in Bayelsa State, on June 21, 2025, Justice Ebiyerin Omukoro was seized outside a commercial establishment in Yenagoa by masked gunmen in broad daylight. Nigerian Law Society (NLS) President Mela Nunghe, SAN, labelled the act a “gross violation of the Nigerian Constitution,” emphasising that judge security is essential to maintaining public trust.
Convoy ambushes in Akwa Ibom and Edo states have repeatedly overwhelmed security details. In Akwa Ibom, Justice Joy Uwanna was abducted on December 18, 2023, after attackers executed her police orderly on the road. A similar fate befell the security detail of Appeal Court Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme during her abduction on October 30, 2019, in Edo State, underscoring that standard police escorts are regularly outgunned. Following Justice Uwanna’s abduction, the Akwa Ibom State Police Command released a statement conceding the severity of the situation: “It’s very unfortunate that a judge who presides over high court has been kidnapped… No stone will be left unturned, resources will be harnessed to ensure that Her Lordship is reunited with her family.”
While financial gain drives banditry in the North-West and Niger Delta, the strategic targeting of jurists threatens to dismantle the administration of justice entirely. Armed groups consistently outgun assigned security orderlies both in transit and inside secure compounds, rendering traditional protection protocols ineffective.
In response to the targeted violence, judicial associations in several affected states have staged strikes and court walkouts. Bar leadership and bench members are demanding immediate federal interventions, including high-level specialised security details and armoured transport vehicles for judges travelling high-risk routes. As courtrooms sit empty across the country, the Nigerian judiciary faces an existential question: how to dispense justice in a security landscape where judicial robes provide no shelter against armed violence.
