The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter, warning that the escalating wave of abductions, killings and mass displacement across Nigeria now threatens international peace and security.
In an open letter dated May 30, 2026, and published on its official social media page, the rights group called on Guterres to bring Nigeria’s deteriorating security situation to the attention of the Security Council without delay.
“Nigeria’s escalating insecurity and grave human rights violations are reflected in repeated abductions, killings, attacks on civilians, and mass displacement in Oyo, Benue, Borno, Plateau, Kaduna, Zamfara, and several other parts of the country,” SERAP said.The organisation argued that the crisis had long outgrown the bounds of a domestic concern, stating that “the scale, persistence, and regional implications of the insecurity and grave human rights crisis in Nigeria pose a threat to international peace and security.
“SERAP described Article 99 as a provision designed precisely for emergencies of this nature — situations demanding preventive diplomacy, sustained international scrutiny and a coordinated global response.The group painted a grim picture of widespread humanitarian suffering caused by years of unrelenting violence, warning that without urgent intervention, conditions would continue to deteriorate across the affected states.
Among the incidents cited was a recent attack on schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, where armed men abducted at least 25 pupils and seven teachers while killing an assistant headmaster — an episode SERAP described as emblematic of a deepening national emergency that has claimed schoolchildren, commuters, women and rural residents as its victims
