Bandits kill five and abduct 27 in Kaduna; operatives hit camps in Kebbi

Suspected bandits killed five people and abducted 27 others in communities in Kaduna State last week, according to agency reports, part of a run of attacks that also saw gunmen impose a ₦40 million levy on residents of Kebbe in Sokoto and strike a wedding party in another Kaduna settlement.

In Kebbi, security operatives said they killed scores of bandits in a raid on camps. Those figures come from the forces. Independent confirmation in the bush is slow, and both under-counts and over-claims are part of the war’s information weather.

Niger State’s government separately confirmed 16 dead, including a vigilante commander and 13 of his men, in recent fighting, and said 110 gunmen had been neutralised. Again: a government number. The dead in the villages are easier to bury than to audit.

What is not in dispute is the map. Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna, Kebbi and now Niger and Kwara are a single theatre. Bandits, Lakurawa and older Boko Haram/ISWAP networks do not respect state lines. Neither, at present, does the federal response look like a single plan.