Residents of Akurmi community in Lere Local Government Area of Kaduna State have raised the alarm over sustained killings and kidnappings by bandits, revealing that no fewer than 59 persons have remained in captivity since October 2025.
Community leaders said at least 12 residents were killed while dozens of others were abducted in a series of coordinated attacks that forced many villagers to abandon their homes and farmlands. The situation, they said, has turned once-thriving settlements into deserted communities gripped by fear.
Leaders of the Akurmi community made the disclosure on Tuesday during a press conference in Kaduna, where they described the security situation as dire and life-threatening. Speaking on behalf of the Akurmi Development Association, its President, Yakubu Maigamo, questioned what he described as the neglect of the community by authorities despite the scale of the attacks.
Maigamo lamented that ancestral farmlands that sustained the people had become unsafe due to incessant bandit incursions, noting that gunmen now invade villages at will, killing men and abducting women and children with little or no resistance. He said the attacks were systematic and widespread, affecting several communities within Lere Local Government Area and neighbouring councils.
He cited an October 2025 attack on Karku-Ningi community in Kauru Local Government Area, where four persons were killed and nine others abducted. According to him, similar attacks occurred in Gidan-Waya, Jan-Tsauni and Mai-Yamma communities in Lere LGA in November 2025, during which four residents were killed and 13 others abducted. He added that Majagada, Gurza, Garun-Kurama and Biman-Kurama communities also recorded related incidents.
Maigamo disclosed that many of those abducted since October were still being held by their captors, forcing families to sell harvested grains meant to sustain them through the year in order to raise ransom payments. While acknowledging efforts by the Federal and Kaduna State governments to address insecurity, he described the interventions as inadequate and appealed to Governor Uba Sani to order the immediate and permanent deployment of security personnel to the affected communities.
Meanwhile, the Birnin Gwari Emirate Progressives Union has warned of renewed security threats in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area, cautioning that the fragile peace in the area could be reversed. In a statement signed by its Chairman, Dr Isah Muhammad, the union lamented the killing of a former councillor of Gayam Ward, Auwal Magaji Kwaga, along the Birnin Gwari–Kwaga road, describing the incident as part of recurring cases of killings, robberies and theft.
The group said findings from a documentation exercise showed that at least 173 farmers suffered severe destruction of farmlands during the 2025 farming season, with more than 182 hectares of cultivated land destroyed, resulting in losses running into hundreds of millions of naira.
When contacted, the Kaduna State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Mansir Hassan, said he would reach out to the affected communities and respond accordingly. As of the time of filing this report, no official response had been received.
The development came as about 80 worshippers who escaped abduction during a bandit attack on Kurmin Wali community in Kajuru Local Government Area of the state returned to their homes. About 177 worshippers were initially believed to have been abducted during the attack, with 80 later confirmed to have escaped and sought refuge in nearby communities.
