Armed bandits have abducted a former director of defence information, Major General Rabe Abubakar (retd.) and his wife after ambushing their vehicle in Katsina State, in an attack that has sent shockwaves through Nigeria’s military establishment and drawn fresh attention to the deteriorating security situation across the country’s north-west.
Major General Rabe Abubakar (retd.) and his wife were travelling through Matazu Local Government Area on Saturday morning when their vehicle was ambushed by heavily armed gunmen who intercepted the couple and took them to an unknown destination. The retired general’s driver managed to escape the scene despite sustaining a gunshot wound during the attack. The vehicle, a red Peugeot 504, was later found and taken to the Matazu Divisional Police Headquarters.
The military confirmed on Saturday that a rescue operation had been launched. “We have received the sad news of his abduction and that of his wife, and we will act accordingly to ensure he and his wife are rescued,” an unnamed military source said.
Abubakar served as Director of Defence Information — the public affairs arm of the Defence Headquarters — between 2015 and 2017 and was one of the military’s most prominent spokespersons during that period, playing a central role in communicating the armed forces’ counterinsurgency operations to the public. The abduction of a figure so closely associated with the military’s own public image is likely to prove acutely embarrassing for the security establishment.
News of the attack spread rapidly through military and security networks. The incident was brought to wider public attention by former senator Babafemi Ojudu, who shared details on his verified Facebook profile after receiving the information from retired Brigadier General Sagir Musa. Neither the Defence Headquarters nor the Katsina State Police Command had issued an official statement by the time of publication.
Katsina State, alongside neighbouring Zamfara, remains one of the regions most severely affected by banditry and kidnapping in Nigeria’s north-west. Armed groups operating in the area have continued to carry out attacks on communities, engage in cattle rustling, and abduct residents for ransom despite ongoing security operations. Federal and state authorities have over the years introduced several measures, including peace negotiations and security offensives, but attacks have persisted across a number of local government areas.
The timing could hardly be more uncomfortable for the government. Just hours before news of the abduction broke, defence minister Christopher Musa had been publicly assuring Nigerians at a ceremony in Southern Kaduna that security forces would “do whatever it takes” to free those held in captivity. His words now face an immediate and very public test.
For a retired general who once stood at podiums to explain the military’s victories against armed groups, the cruel irony of his own abduction will not be lost on Nigerians — nor on the bandits who appear, with each successive attack, to be growing bolder.
