By Ibrahim Hassan-Wuyo
Residents of Funtua Local Government Area in Katsina State are gripped by fear as a wave of violence leaves dozens dead and over 200 people abducted in just one week.
Villages, including Bagaji Wando, Ilallah, Mai Gamji, Nasarawa Dan Kurmi, and those on the outskirts of Funtua town, have been targeted. In Bagaji Wando alone, nine were killed and 37 abducted, while two vehicles were torched.
The terror has forced many farmers to abandon their fields amid the rainy season, raising grave concerns about food security. A resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, lamented: “Since banditry began in Katsina about 10 years ago, the people of Funtua have never witnessed violence of this magnitude.”
According to a report on BBC Hausa monitored by our correspondent in Kaduna, the Katsina State Commissioner for Security and Home Affairs, Dr. Nasiru Mu’azu, acknowledged that the rainy season typically emboldens bandits but assured that state and federal forces, alongside civilian joint task teams, are intensifying operations.
Complementing this, police interventions have already yielded results: in January, officers foiled an ambush on the Funtua–Gusau highway and rescued 18 hostages unharmed. In April, another kidnapping attempt was thwarted, with ten more victims saved following a gunfight.
In another development, reports surrounding notorious bandit leader Bello Turji in Zamfara State remain sharply contested.
In early August, Islamic cleric Sheikh Musa Yusuf,Asadus-Sunnah, claimed that Turji held peace talks deep within Fakai forest, surrendered arms, and released 32 captives, including women and children. Farmers in Shinkafi and neighbouring areas were purportedly allowed to resume farming under a fragile truce.
Security agencies ,however, firmly denied any formal peace accords with Turji, casting significant doubt on the cleric’s claims.
Aside from the peace narrative, local farmers continue to accuse Turji of dominating the regional watermelon trade in the Northwest, and several media investigations allege that he enforces “farming levies” amounting to hundreds of millions of Naira, effectively extorting villagers so they can tend their lands.
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