Residents of the Akurmi community in the Lere Local Government Area of Kaduna State have sounded a grave warning over escalating violence in their homeland, describing a pattern of sustained killings, abductions and terror by bandits that has left dozens dead, and at least 59 people still held hostage since October 2025.
Speaking at a press conference in Kaduna on Tuesday, leaders of the Akurmi Development Association (AKURDA) decried the worsening insecurity that has forced villagers to abandon their homes, flee farmlands and live in constant fear of attack.
The residents said that in a series of coordinated raids over recent months, armed bandits had killed scores of people and abducted dozens more across several settlements in Lere and neighbouring councils.
According to AKURDA president Yakubu J. Maigamo, the situation has grown so dire that once-productive ancestral farmlands have been left to ruin, overtaken by fear and bloodshed.
“Are we still part of Nigeria, or have Akurmi lives become disposable?” Maigamo asked at the press briefing. “Our lands have been turned into graveyards and forests of fear. Gunmen now invade villages at will, killing men and abducting women and children without resistance or adequate security response.”
He recounted that at least 12 residents were killed and dozens abducted since October last year, beginning with an assault on Karku-Ningi in neighbouring Kauru LGA where four people were killed and nine others abducted. Subsequent attacks in Gidan-Waya, Jan-Tsauni, and Mai-Yamma saw another four lives lost and 13 taken, he said. Other affected communities include Majagada, Gurza, Garun-Kurama and Biman-Kurama.
Maigamo disclosed that many of those taken remain in captivity, with families selling vital food supplies, grain harvested for household sustenance—just to raise ransom payments.
He urged that while the Federal and Kaduna State governments have made efforts to stem violence, the impact of these measures has thus far been insufficient to deter the gunmen or secure affected villages.
“Our commitment to peace must not be mistaken for a willingness to perish in silence. Justice cannot wait, and safety cannot be delayed,” the AKURDA president said, appealing for a permanent and robust security deployment to protect vulnerable rural communities.
The crisis has not been confined to the Akurmi people. In a related security alert, the Birnin Gwari Emirate Progressives Union, under the leadership of Dr. Isah Muhammad, lamented the murder of a former councillor, Auwal Magaji Kwaga, along the Birnin Gwari–Kwaga road, an area plagued by recurring banditry, robberies and farm destruction.
Muhammad said a documentation exercise revealed at least 173 farmers lost hundreds of millions of naira in destroyed farmlands during the 2025 farming season, highlighting the wider economic toll of insecurity on rural livelihoods.
Contacted for comment, Kaduna State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Mansir Hassan, said he would reach out to leaders of affected communities and respond to the crisis, but as of the time of filing the report, no detailed response had been issued.
Meanwhile, community leaders reiterated their appeal for urgent action to prevent further loss of life, restoration of confidence, and a genuine sense of security for residents who feel abandoned amid one of northern Nigeria’s most persistent waves of bandit violence.
