The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, to invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter and bring Nigeria’s worsening security crisis before the UN Security Council.
In a letter dated May 30, 2026, and signed by SERAP Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said the growing wave of killings, mass abductions, attacks on civilians, displacement of communities, and other grave human rights violations across Nigeria now poses a threat to regional and international peace and security.
SERAP noted that insecurity has continued to escalate in states including Oyo, Benue, Borno, Plateau, Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, and Adamawa, resulting in widespread loss of lives, destruction of communities, and a deepening humanitarian crisis.
According to the rights group, Article 99 empowers the UN Secretary-General to draw the Security Council’s attention to any situation that may threaten international peace and security. It argued that Nigeria’s security challenges have reached a level requiring urgent preventive diplomacy, sustained international scrutiny, and coordinated global action.
The organisation stressed that placing Nigeria’s security situation on the Security Council’s formal agenda would help ensure continued international attention to attacks on civilians, including abductions, killings, and forced displacement.
SERAP maintained that the crisis is no longer merely a domestic law enforcement issue, warning that the movement of armed groups and weapons across borders, large-scale displacement, and growing instability are increasingly affecting peace and security across the West African region.
The group cited the recent abduction of pupils and teachers in Oyo State as an example of the deteriorating security situation. According to SERAP, armed men attacked multiple schools in the Ahoro Esinele community of Oriire Local Government Area on May 15, 2026, abducting at least 25 pupils and seven teachers.
The attack reportedly claimed the life of an assistant headmaster, while another teacher later died in captivity. SERAP noted that videos subsequently emerged showing one of the abducted teachers appealing to President Bola Tinubu, Governor Seyi Makinde, and Nigerians to help secure the release of the victims.
The organisation also referenced reports of gunmen abducting secondary school students and other travellers in Benue State while they were on their way to sit for university entrance examinations.
Beyond the school attacks, SERAP pointed to increasing violence in the North-East, North-West, and North-Central regions, including recent bomb explosions in Maiduguri, Borno State, which reportedly killed at least 23 people and injured more than 100 others.
It said the attacks have been accompanied by assaults on military formations, raids on internally displaced persons’ camps, kidnappings of women and children, and repeated killings of civilians in rural communities.
The rights group further cited recent incidents in Katsina State, where gunmen allegedly killed at least 10 people, including women and children, while separate attacks reportedly left about 20 others dead and several residents abducted. In Adamawa State, another attack reportedly claimed the lives of at least 29 people.
SERAP warned that the growing pattern of mass killings, abductions, and attacks on communities reflects an intensifying security crisis that could have far-reaching consequences for Nigeria and the wider West African sub-region if left unchecked.
The organisation also pointed to previous expressions of concern by UN officials regarding insecurity in Nigeria. It recalled that Guterres condemned killings in Benue State in June 2025 and denounced a terrorist attack in Kwara State in February 2026, while reaffirming the United Nations’ support for Nigeria.
According to SERAP, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had also expressed concern over the surge in mass abductions across Nigeria and called on authorities to ensure accountability and secure the safe return of victims.
The group noted that UN agencies have repeatedly warned that insecurity in Nigeria is driving displacement, disrupting livelihoods, worsening food insecurity, and deepening one of the country’s most severe humanitarian crises in recent years.
SERAP argued that Guterres’ previous invocation of Article 99 during the Gaza conflict highlighted the importance of timely international intervention in situations involving large-scale human suffering and the risk of regional destabilisation.
The organisation further stated that under international human rights law, governments are obligated not only to refrain from violating rights but also to take reasonable steps to prevent, investigate, and punish abuses committed by non-state actors.
It said the recurring pattern of attacks, kidnappings, killings, and enforced disappearances across Nigeria demonstrates that the risks are well-known, foreseeable, and require urgent action.
SERAP therefore called on the UN Secretary-General to immediately bring Nigeria’s security crisis before the Security Council, encourage regular public briefings on insecurity and its humanitarian consequences, support independent investigations into attacks, and urge Nigerian authorities to strengthen measures aimed at protecting civilians and securing the release of abducted persons.
The organisation also urged the international community to use all available diplomatic channels to prevent further escalation of violence and support efforts to restore peace, security, and accountability across Nigeria.