Gunmen have kidnapped a judge in northwestern Nigeria's Kebbi state, police told AFP on Monday, the latest high-profile abduction after a retired army general was seized in May.

Faruku Hassan Bunza, a High Court judge in Kebbi state, was abducted from his home in Bunza town on Sunday morning, days after gunmen kidnapped Nura Umar Bungudu, chairman of Bungudu local government area, a municipality in neighbouring Zamfara state.

"The victim was abducted in the early hours of Sunday... shortly after returning to Bunza," Kebbi police spokesperson Bashir Usman told AFP.

Police said efforts were under way to rescue the judge.

Retired major-general's death in captivity

The Africa Judges & Jurists Forum, a continental network of judges, condemned the attack "as a matter of the utmost gravity", adding that "the abduction of a judge strikes at values that lie at the heart of every constitutional democracy."

Bandit gangs, who also raid villages, steal livestock and loot and burn homes, operate across rural parts of northwest and central Nigeria.

Kebbi shares a long border with the Niger republic which has recorded an increase in terrorist attacks this year.

In May, gunmen kidnapped retired army Major-General Rabe Abubakar and his wife in nearby Katsina state.

Abubakar died in captivity about two weeks later from health-linked complications, according to the Katsina state government.