Kebbi’s Unending Nightmare: When Will Banditry, Lakurawa Attacks and Kidnappings End?

The dusty roads that link Sakaba Local Government Area of Kebbi State to neighbouring Zamfara have become a corridor of fear. On the morning of 10 August 2026, a heavily armed group estimated by residents at more than 200 men on motorcycles moved from the Sangeko Gap area in Dansadau, Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara, toward the Rafin Makuku axis in Kebbi. What followed was one of the deadliest single encounters involving police personnel in the state in recent years.

According to the official statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Ani Iniedu, police operatives intercepted the group around 9:25 a.m. A fierce exchange of fire ensued. By the time the smoke cleared, ten police officers attached largely to the Special Intervention Squad and Police Mobile Force units lay dead. Two other officers were wounded. Two civilians also lost their lives. The police said at least 17 suspected bandits were neutralised and four motorcycles destroyed. The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, later described the fallen officers as gallant men who paid the ultimate price while defending the people they swore to protect. At a memorial parade in Abuja, Disu vowed that the Force would not be intimidated and would not retreat.

The names of the dead officers — ASP Bala Buba, several Inspectors including Saminu Sulaiman, Solomon Jatau, Ayuba Hassain, Umar Yahuza, Auwal Sani, Adamu Abdullahi and Abdullahi Magaji, Sergeant Jimoh Momo and Corporal Ukpong Otuekong — circulated widely on social media and in local communities. Families wept openly at the memorial. One relative told journalists that the officers had called for reinforcement and air support that never arrived in time. The Kebbi State Government quickly announced that it would support the families of the slain officers.

This clash is only the latest chapter in a long and painful story. Across Kebbi’s 21 local government areas, particularly those bordering Zamfara, Sokoto and the Republic of Niger, banditry, kidnapping for ransom and attacks attributed to the group known as Lakurawa have become a grim routine. Residents no longer ask whether an attack will happen; they ask when and where the next one will strike.

Only weeks earlier, the judiciary itself became a target. In the early hours of 26 July 2026, gunmen stormed the residence of Justice Faruku Hassan Bunza of the Kebbi State High Court along Zogirma Road in Bunza Local Government Area. The judge had just returned from a trip to Sokoto. He was taken away. Police Public Relations Officer SP Bashir Usman confirmed the abduction and said tactical teams had been deployed. For eight to nine days the judge remained in captivity at a location he later described as Dutsen Bandan, a hill behind the NYSC orientation camp in Dakin Gari, Suru Local Government Area, roughly 49 kilometres from his hometown.

A family member later told Daily Trust that the initial ransom demand was ₦200 million. After negotiations it was reduced to ₦50 million, which the family paid. On 3 August the judge was released. He was dropped near his home in a commercial vehicle conveying firewood. Police insisted they maintained a firm stance against ransom payments even while confirming the release. Justice Bunza, after medical checks, spoke of the prayers of family, friends and well-wishers that sustained him. “People prayed fervently for my release and, by God’s infinite mercy, He answered our prayers,” he said. The episode shocked the legal community and ordinary residents alike: if a High Court judge could be taken from his own residence, who was truly safe?

Troops of the Nigerian Army and Joint Task Force Northwest Operation Fansan Yamma have recorded some successes. In separate operations covering Kaduna, Zamfara and Kebbi they intercepted ₦9.89 million in ransom money and rescued 27 kidnap victims. In another raid, two suspected Lakurawa fighters were killed and arms recovered. Yet these tactical victories have not translated into strategic calm. Communities continue to report attacks, cattle rustling, imposition of illegal levies and the burning of an NSCDC checkpoint in one incident. Farmer-herder clashes have also left several dead and led to arrests.

Lakurawa occupies a particularly troubling space in this violence. Once described by some communities as a group that helped repel conventional bandits, the group has evolved into what analysts call a hybrid criminal-jihadist actor. It operates mainly in the forested borderlands of Kebbi and Sokoto, with links across the frontier into Niger. Reports attribute deadly raids in Arewa, Augie, Shanga, Bagudo and Dandi local government areas to the group. In one attack on Fasken Rafi (also rendered Fesken Rafi) in Arewa district, more than 20 people were killed. In another incident in Shanga, nine soldiers, one police officer and a civilian died in an ambush. The group has been accused of imposing religious restrictions, appointing its own imams, taxing communities and prohibiting certain farming practices. Nigerian authorities designated it a terrorist organisation, and it has drawn international attention, including reported U.S. airstrikes on its camps in late 2025.

Governor Nasir Idris, who assumed office in 2023, has repeatedly stated that security remains his top priority. After a surge in attacks he convened an emergency security meeting at Government House, Birnin Kebbi, attended by the brigade commander, Commissioner of Police, Department of State Services director, NSCDC commandant and other service chiefs. He ordered an immediate review of existing strategies. “We must review our existing security strategies and introduce new measures to address the resurgence of banditry in some parts of the state. The protection of lives and property remains our top priority, and we are prepared to take every necessary step regardless of the cost implications,” the governor said.

Idris has pointed to concrete support given to security agencies: more than 100 operational vehicles, thousands of motorcycles distributed to vigilante groups, recruitment and training of over 3,000 local vigilantes, sustained financial support for frontline personnel, and the establishment of additional Forward Operational Bases. He has also warned informants who tip off bandits. “I will never condone or be lenient with such unscrupulous persons. Let it be known to the informants that whoever is convicted for volunteering information to bandits leading to the killing of innocent souls, I will sign his death warrant instantly,” he declared during a visit to Tudun Bichi in Wasagu Chiefdom.

Schools in several affected communities have remained closed for months. The state government insists the decision is purely security-driven and not political. Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy Abdullahi Zuru has explained that the closures protect both students and teachers from the persistent threat of banditry that affects not only Kebbi but other parts of the North-West and North-East. Parents in places such as Augie, Arewa and parts of Danko-Wasagu have relocated their children to larger towns. Farming has suffered. Many rural dwellers have abandoned their villages for the relative safety of Argungu, Birnin Kebbi and other urban centres.

On social media and in community conversations the question is asked again and again: when will this insecurity end? Residents post images of destroyed homes, empty classrooms and grieving families. Traditional rulers, including the Emir of Yauri, have called for stronger intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance. Security analysts note that the problem is multi-layered — porous borders, forested terrain that favours mobile motorcycle-borne attackers, the economic incentives of ransom and cattle rustling, the ideological overlay introduced by groups such as Lakurawa, and the difficulty of sustaining continuous pressure across vast rural spaces.

The state government has explored additional partnerships, including discussions with private security consortia that promise digital intelligence systems. Yet the fundamental challenge remains the same: translating temporary operational gains into permanent territorial control and community confidence. Federal forces under Operation Fansan Yamma continue joint efforts, but residents in remote villages still feel the state’s presence is intermittent.

Farmer-herder conflicts add another layer of complexity. Disputes over farmland destruction by cattle have repeatedly turned violent, producing fatalities and cycles of reprisal. Police have made arrests, but the underlying competition for land and water resources in a changing climate and growing population continues to fuel tension.

For ordinary people the human cost is measured in orphans, widows, abandoned farms and interrupted education. A resident of Mera once told reporters that kidnapping and cattle rustling had become the order of the day and that many villagers had relocated to Argungu and Birnin Kebbi simply to survive. Another resident of Dadin Kowa lamented that the terrorists had turned children into orphans and wives into widows. These voices, repeated across social media platforms and local radio, form a chorus of exhaustion and quiet desperation.

Governor Idris maintains that Kebbi is not under siege and that progress is being made in many areas. Official statements emphasise that while challenges exist, portraying the entire state as collapsed under criminal control is misleading. The administration points to reduced incidents in certain local government areas, the rescue of victims, and the neutralisation of fighters. Yet the August clash that claimed ten police lives and the high-profile abduction of a serving judge demonstrate how quickly relative calm can be shattered.

As the rainy season continues and the farming calendar advances, the pressure on rural communities intensifies. Children who should be in classrooms remain at home or in temporary urban shelters. Markets that once thrived now open cautiously. Travellers avoid certain roads after dusk. The psychological toll is immense.

Security experts argue that a purely kinetic approach is insufficient. They call for a combination of sustained military pressure, improved border management with Niger, community-based intelligence that is properly protected, economic alternatives for young people who might otherwise be recruited, and transparent accountability for any local collaborators. They also stress the need to distinguish carefully between ordinary criminal bandit groups driven by profit and hybrid actors such as Lakurawa that mix criminal enterprise with ideological ambitions.

Whether these recommendations will be fully implemented, and whether they will succeed where previous efforts have fallen short, remains the central question hanging over Kebbi State. For now, the people of Sakaba, Bunza, Arewa, Shanga, Danko-Wasagu and dozens of other communities continue to live with the daily reality of insecurity. They bury their dead, pay ransoms when they can, keep their children out of school, and ask the same question that has echoed across the North-West for years: when will this end?

The answer, for the moment, is not clear. What is clear is that the cost of continued failure is measured in lives already lost and in the futures of a generation of children who have known more fear than classroom learning. Governor Idris, the security agencies, traditional institutions and the federal government all face the same urgent demand from the people of Kebbi: deliver lasting security, not just temporary respites between the next attack and the one after that.

Until that demand is met, the roads of Rafin Makuku, the compounds of Bunza and the farms of Arewa will remain places where ordinary Nigerians continue to pay the highest price for the country’s unfinished struggle against banditry and terror.