Terrorists Emerging in North Central Nigeria Over Low Ransom Payments in North West

On Thursday, March 6, villagers in the Kyaram community in the Danko Wasagu area of Kebbi State, northwestern Nigeria, caught a terrorist leader off guard. Kachalla Chilela, the terrorist, had masterminded many heinous attacks in the state, hiding in a forest connecting Kebbi and Zamfara in the region. 

It was during the early days of this month, a period in which terrorists have been intensifying attacks. Chilela, a man from the Badakare extraction of the Zuru Emirate in Kebbi State, would open a can of worms about the activities of terrorists in the axis upon his arrest.

State-backed volunteers of the Community Protection Guards (CPGs) had detained the gang leader hours after leading a deadly attack on the Ruwankura village. They kept him somewhere for interrogation after killing dozens of his gang members around the Danko Wasagu area.

While extracting information from him, he claimed that hundreds of terrorists had moved to the Bani village of Kwara State due to the low rate of ransom payment in the axis. 

“Although the remaining terrorists still have deadly ammunition in their possession, the key actors fled for Bani town of Kwara State, meeting with several others over there,” Shehu Tela,  one of the locals who interrogated Chilela in the Kyaram village, told HumAngle. 

“He told us that hundreds of the kidnapped victims are still in captivity at Fasagora camp located in Kyaram. But with just local guns, we cannot penetrate the camp. We are, however, in dire need of Maikurkunu (APC) military vehicles that could lead us to the forest den for a rescue mission.” 

Bala Kaya, a GPG fighter, expressed confidence to HumAngle that launching a surprise attack on the forest belts could liberate Kyaram ward and potentially the entire Bukuyum Local Government Area, but only if they receive military APC vehicles to support their operation.

The arming of vigilante groups in the manner the CPG says it needs is associated with many risks, however. HumAngle has reported on this in the past. 

Shahid Sani Anka, a local security expert, advised that deploying military forces in collaboration with state-backed vigilantes is crucial to tackling insecurity in the forest zones. He insists that establishing military bases in Kyaram Ward would effectively drive out armed criminal groups from the Bukuyum and Anka Local Government Areas, ensuring stability in the region.

“Otherwise, the armed gangs will continue to prosper and expand their horizons beyond the borderline. Their movement to Kwara State is temporal. They will return and regroup in the rainy season. This has been their usual practice,” he warned. 

Some captives recently freed explained that the remaining perpetrators of attacks on local communities in the areas are largely teenagers and young adults under 30, left behind to occupy and control the ungoverned territories.

“Our hope is dying. We expect the soldiers to reach out to us for credible information that is helpful to their operations against the terrorists. But no one was in sight,” one CPG member said.

On Wednesday, March 5, the armed gang launched a brutal attack, abducting gold miners traveling from Mallamawa to Adabka villages in the Bukuyum area. Ibrahim Husaini, a local miner from Masamar-Mudi village, recounted his harrowing experience, saying, “That day, I saw my captors were just school-age children, yet they kidnapped me simply because I was unarmed.”

Following a distress call, the Civilian Protection Group (CPG) responded to interrupt the attack, but unfortunately, they were ambushed by the armed gang. The confrontation resulted in the loss of 12 CPG members, while 9 others sustained injuries.