60 Days After: Families of 13 Abducted Passengers, Including 7-Month-Old Baby, Beg Government for Rescue

60 days of silence

It's been exactly 60 days since 13 passengers — including a seven-month-old baby — were abducted along the Biu-Damaturu road. Their families have now run out of patience.

On Saturday, June 13, 2026, relatives of the missing travellers gathered at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) office in Maiduguri to beg the government, security agencies, and the media for help. Speaking through Mr. Hassan Yati, the families said their hearts are weighed down by pain, fear, and uncertainty.

What happened on April 15

On April 15, 2026, two overloaded golf station wagons carrying passengers left Biu Local Government Area for Maiduguri. The trip should've taken less than six hours. Instead, armed insurgents — suspected to be ISWAP/Boko Haram fighters — ambushed the vehicles along the Biu-Buratai-Kamuya road.

The attackers drove the passengers into the bush. Since then, there's been no word about their fate.

Who was taken

Among the abducted was a mother carrying her seven-month-old baby, who'd just recovered from an illness. There were young graduates on their way to Maiduguri to process their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) deployment. A husband and wife from Hawul Local Government Area were also taken. Two brothers full of dreams. Young men and women hoping to begin new chapters of their lives.

Yati painted a painful picture of the families left behind.

"How does one explain to a six-year-old girl, Deborah Michael, that her father and mother coming to Maiduguri from Biu are yet to arrive even after two months? How does Baba Mustapha sleep at night knowing that his two sons, who squeezed themselves into a vehicle boot just to make the trip, have vanished without a trace?"

Mixed feelings over recent rescues

The families said they're grateful for the recent rescue of 360 abducted women, children and men from Ngoshe, and the rescue of 11 abducted fisherwomen from Askira Uba. But their joy is incomplete.

"Our loved ones are still in captivity," Yati said.

A dangerous road

The Biu-Buratai-Kamuya road has become notorious for attacks and abductions. Yet for communities across Biu, Hawul, Kwaya Kusar, Bayo and Shani local government areas in Southern Borno Senatorial District, it remains the only link to Maiduguri. The families called on the government to rehabilitate the Borno segment of the Biu-Damaturu road to ease movement and reduce vulnerability.

Who they are appealing to

The families directed their pleas to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, House of Representatives member Muktar Aliyu Betara, Hon. Midala Usman Balami, Hon. Ahmed Usman Jaha, and Barr. Daniel Bwala — Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication and Media. They also appealed to the Nigerian Army and all relevant security agencies.

"We've seen the efforts of the President, Governor Zulum, the Nigerian Army and security agencies in securing the release of other abducted victims in recent weeks. Those successes have reminded us that rescue is possible," Yati said.

The families have done what they can — gone public, begged the authorities. Now they wait. Every day that passes, they said, deepens the wounds. But they haven't lost hope. They believe that if others were rescued, their loved ones can still come home alive.