ICC Dismisses Request for Investigation into Nigerian Kidnappings

This week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) rejected a request to investigate “systemic kidnappings in Nigeria.” Reports indicate that the court found the petition lacked “any legal basis.”

The Nigerian government, which has minimized the severity of jihadist violence for years, expressed dissatisfaction with the court’s handling of the request, asserting it should have been directed to the ICC’s chief prosecutor. Notably, the prosecutor’s role is currently vacant after previous Prosecutor Karim Khan was accused of sexual misconduct.

Nigeria, a nation with a nearly equal balance of Christians and Muslims, has endured over a decade of escalating radical Islamist attacks, particularly against Christians in the northern regions and the Middle Belt. Groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a splinter group of Boko Haram, regularly engage in mass kidnappings, often killing men and abducting women and girls. Furthermore, ethnic Fulani jihadists pose a significant threat in the Middle Belt, targeting indigenous Christians, while the government has been slow to acknowledge this threat.

As jihadist violence has persisted, abduction has become increasingly prevalent. Initially, these kidnappings were primarily conducted by terrorists seeking ransom to fund their activities. However, it has now become a trend for a variety of criminals who have realized that families and governments are willing to pay ransoms.

The humanitarian organization Open Doors reported a notable surge in abductions, particularly highlighting a 153-percent increase from October to December 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. An analysis by SBM Intelligence estimated that kidnappers from various backgrounds accrued over $5 million in ransoms between July 2025 and June 2026.

Security analyst Kehinde Giwa remarked, “For every ransom that is paid for a kidnapping incident, you are simply birthing another kidnapping incident.”

In light of this situation, an anonymous party filed a petition with the ICC this year, claiming that the abductions in Nigeria constituted crimes against humanity. The matter was presented to Pre-Trial Chamber II, which allowed it to be filed, but ultimately declined to pursue it, citing the absence of a legal basis.

The ICC, established by the Rome Statute, is authorized to consider cases involving war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. However, reports did not specify if the anonymous filer identified potential defendants or clarified how the kidnappings qualified as crimes against humanity under international law.

Though the Nigerian government was not specifically implicated in the petition, Justice Minister Lateef Fagbemi voiced strong criticism regarding the court’s acceptance of the case. He indicated concern that an unverified petition from an anonymous individual was improperly processed by the Pre-Trial Division, asserting it should have gone directly to the Prosecutor’s Office instead. He further emphasized that matters of kidnapping should fall under the jurisdiction of Nigerian law enforcement, which has failed to effectively address the issue.

At present, the ICC lacks a permanent prosecutor. The office is being temporarily managed by deputy prosecutors Mame Mandiaye Niang and Nazhat Shameem Khan, following the departure of Khan, who was suspended after facing serious allegations.

Under President Bola Tinubu, the Nigerian government has consistently denied the existence of religious discrimination, pushing back against characterizations of genocidal persecution against Christians. Tinubu reacted strongly when Nigeria was placed back on the State Department’s list of Countries of Particular Concern for religious freedom, insisting that such characterizations do not reflect the country’s reality. Locals contend that much of the violence is misrepresented as mere banditry or petty crime, complicating efforts to address the issues at hand.

“When you label them as ‘hoodlums’ or ‘bandits,’ it diminishes the severity of their actions,” noted Jabez Musa, a lawyer in the Middle Belt. He described attacks where armed groups arrive en masse on motorcycles, armed with assault rifles, and conduct brutal assaults on communities. “They are more than bandits,” he asserted, highlighting that the scale of abduction extends beyond jihadist violence due to the lucrative ransoms involved.