Bandits Kidnap Dozens After Luring Villagers to 'Peace' Meeting in Zamfara

Overview

• Gunmen invited villagers to a forest meeting near Magamin Diddi in Maradun, then seized a large group who had come to discuss reconciliation with relatives of a bandit leader.
• Zamfara police put the number taken at 39 while local residents and some officials said the count could be as high as 50, reflecting confusion in the remote area.
• Locals said intermediaries were released to deliver a ransom demand reported at 125 million naira and to carry messages between the captors and the village.
• Authorities have deployed police and intelligence units to search for the abductees and to follow up on the reported ransom negotiations.
• The incident is part of a long-running insecurity in Zamfara where kidnapping for ransom, village raids and disrupted farming have pushed communities to bargain directly with armed groups and deepened local vulnerability.