Kidnappings spike on expressways

Gunmen have hit two major highways in southern Nigeria within days, abducting travellers on the Ibadan–Ijebu and Ore–Benin corridors and killing at least one driver. (thewillnews.com) The Ibadan–Ijebu attack happened on April 18, 2026, shortly after 7 p.m., according to eyewitness accounts cited by Sahara Reporters, which said several travellers were taken and one person was confirmed dead. A separate report published April 20 said armed men also struck commercial travellers on the Ore–Benin Expressway. (saharareporters.com, thewillnews.com) The roads are not minor feeder routes. The Ibadan–Ijebu road links Oyo and Ogun states and serves traffic moving between Ibadan, Ijebu-Ode and the Lagos axis, while the Ore–Benin road is part of the main highway carrying passengers and freight between Lagos, Ondo, Edo and the South-South. (thenigerianvoice.com, businessday.ng) Security concerns on these corridors were already on record before this week’s reports. In March 2025, Ogun State Police said they deployed a specialized intervention squad on the Sagamu–Ijebu Ode–Benin Expressway to curb kidnapping and armed robbery. (thenationonlineng.net) The Benin–Ore route has seen repeated abduction cases over the past two years. Punch reported a January 2024 kidnapping that ended after a ransom payment, and in August 2025 Edo police said 13 abducted passengers from the Benin–Ore Expressway had been rescued. (punchng.com, thenationonlineng.net) The wider pattern is not limited to one state. BusinessDay reported this year that insecurity on the Benin–Ore–Lagos corridor was raising business costs and endangering communities near transport routes, citing an SBM Intelligence weekly security report. (businessday.ng) That has practical consequences for organisations that move staff by road. Risk advisories aimed at companies and non-governmental groups operating in Nigeria now treat highway movement as a planning issue, with route checks, convoy protocols and trip timing folded into routine operations. (regionalert.com, businessday.ng) Police in Ogun have also spent recent months trying to separate real threats from recycled or misleading clips. The Guardian reported in April that the command warned against sharing an old viral kidnapping video as if it showed a fresh attack on the Lagos-Ibadan corridor. (guardian.ng) For travellers, the immediate change is simple: two more attacks have been reported on roads that connect some of southern Nigeria’s busiest cities, and the security response now faces another test on routes authorities had already flagged as vulnerable. (thisage.com.ng, thenationonlineng.net)