● Rights group cites Oyo school raid, Benue, Borno attacks as threats to regional peace
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has urged UN Secretary-General António Guterres to urgently invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter and refer Nigeria’s worsening insecurity to the UN Security Council over mass abductions, killings and displacement.
In an open letter dated May 30, 2026 and signed by deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP said the scale and regional implications of violence in Oyo, Benue, Borno, Plateau, Kaduna, Zamfara and other states “pose a threat to international peace and security”.
—“Situation requires urgent preventive diplomacy”—
SERAP argued that Article 99 exists “precisely for situations in which emerging or ongoing crises require urgent preventive diplomacy, sustained international scrutiny, and coordinated international action”.
Article 99 empowers the Secretary-General to bring to the Security Council’s attention “any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.
“Placing the escalating insecurity and grave human rights violations in Nigeria on the Security Council’s formal agenda would strengthen the credibility of the UN system,” SERAP stated. “The crisis is not merely a domestic law-enforcement issue. Its effects implicate regional peace through cross-border movement of armed groups, large-scale displacement, and growing instability beyond Nigeria’s borders.”
—Oyo school attack, Benue, Borno cited—
SERAP highlighted the May 15, 2026 attack in Ahoro Esinele, Oriire LGA, Oyo State, where gunmen reportedly abducted 25 pupils and 7 teachers from 3 schools. An assistant headmaster was killed and another teacher died in captivity. Distressing videos later showed an abducted vice principal pleading with President Tinubu and Governor Makinde for help.
The group also cited gunmen abducting secondary students and travellers in Benue while heading for university exams, bomb explosions in Maiduguri that killed 23 and injured 100+, attacks that killed 10 people including women and children in Katsina, and another raid that killed 29 in Adamawa.
“Nigeria is facing a grave and worsening security crisis marked by repeated mass abductions of schoolchildren, teachers, women, commuters, and rural residents; attacks on villages; killings; and widespread displacement,” SERAP said.
—UN warnings, SERAP demands—
SERAP noted recent UN statements: Guterres condemned killings in Benue in June 2025 and a terrorist attack in Kwara in Feb 2026. UN OHCHR in Nov 2025 expressed shock at the surge in mass abductions.
The group therefore urged Guterres to:
1. Invoke Article 99 and bring Nigeria to the Security Council without delay
2. Encourage regular Security Council briefings on insecurity and humanitarian impact
3. Request systematic UN reporting on attacks and displacement
4. Call on Nigerian authorities to prevent attacks, protect civilians, secure release of abductees
5. Urge independent investigations* and accountability for perpetrators
6. Support measures to end impunity and provide reparations for victims
“Where threats persist without adequate prevention or accountability, serious concerns arise under international human rights law and the UN Charter,” SERAP warned. “The persistence of these attacks and their implications for regional stability require urgent international attention.”
