Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
In a brutal assault that lasted nearly an hour, armed bandits overran the remote farming settlement of Garin Faji in Sabon Birni Local Government Area of Sokoto State, killing a man and his 8‑year‑old daughter before carting away 17 members of their extended family and rustling about 50 cattle. The attack, which occurred in the early hours of Wednesday, 29 April 2026, has deepened the reign of terror that has turned large swaths of the North‑West into a killing field, with villagers accusing the government of abandoning them to heavily armed criminal gangs.
According to multiple residents who spoke to local journalists on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, the assailants arrived on foot shortly before midnight. “They left their motorcycles at a distance so the sound would not alert us,” a shopkeeper recounted. “I was in my shop around 12:00 a.m. when I heard gunshots that signalled their arrival. I quickly closed and went into hiding.” From their hiding places, villagers watched helplessly as the attackers moved from house to house, shooting sporadically to terrorise anyone who dared to resist.
It was at the home of Haruna Dan Kwambo that the night turned into an unspeakable tragedy. The bandits forced their way inside, shot the 8‑year‑old girl and her father, and then rounded up the rest of the household. The victim’s two wives, his brother’s wives, the brother’s children’s wives and several other children were all dragged out of their homes and marched into the darkness. Neighbours who survived the raid said that before they fled, they saw the little girl’s body lying beside that of her father.
A total of 17 villagers were abducted, according to accounts gathered by multiple news outlets and humanitarian sources. Among the kidnapped, only three are men; the remaining 14 are women and children. Their abductors, who carried sophisticated assault rifles, drove approximately 50 cattle out of the village as they withdrew. “They operated for about one hour. Before security operatives arrived, they had already left,” a community leader lamented, adding that there is no police post or military detachment in the entire ward, leaving the village at the mercy of gangs that roam the vast, ungoverned forests straddling the borders of Sokoto, Zamfara and Niger states.
The attack on Garin Faji is not an isolated incident. Residents said the community had endured previous raids in which people were killed and abducted, and they recalled another tragedy in which villagers fleeing a bandit attack died after their overcrowded boat capsized. “The situation is becoming unbearable,” the source said, echoing the sentiment of millions of Nigerians trapped in rural insecurity. The Sabon Birni Local Government Area, which shares a border with the notorious Rugu Forest, has become a frequent target of bandit operations, with previous attacks recorded in several villages in the state earlier in April.
The failure of the security forces to respond in time has become a recurring theme in the North‑West. In this instance, as in countless others, the attackers timed their operation to perfection. By the time any security personnel reached the village, the bandits had already melted back into the forest, taking their captives and the cattle with them. The community, which lies about 90 kilometres from the state capital, has no functional security presence, forcing residents to rely on poorly armed local vigilantes who are no match for the attackers’ firepower.
Efforts to obtain official confirmation from the Sokoto State Police Command were unsuccessful. The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ahmad Rufai, did not respond to calls and text messages. The state government, which has previously launched community guards and negotiated with some bandit groups, has not issued a statement on the latest attack, nor has it announced any rescue operation.
The abduction of 17 family members from a single household is a devastating blow to an already impoverished community. With harvest season approaching, the abduction of able‑bodied men and women will disrupt farming activities, worsening food insecurity in a region already grappling with inflation and dwindling food supplies. For the families of the victims, the immediate fear is not only for the safety of their loved ones but also for the financial ruin that ransom demands would bring.
The victims include the two wives of Haruna Dan Kwambo, who are now widows in captivity. Their children, some still too young to fully understand what has happened, must now navigate a world where a father and a sister can be taken by a single bullet. For those who survived the raid, the trauma is compounded by the knowledge that the attackers left unopposed and that no help came.
The attack on Garin Faji underscores the deteriorating security situation in Sokoto State, which has become one of the epicenters of banditry in Nigeria’s North‑West. Just weeks earlier, bandits had attacked communities in the same local government area, killing five people and abducting 22 others. It is a grim pattern that has repeated itself for years, with successive governments promising reform and deploying military operations, only to see the violence continue.
For now, the residents of Garin Faji await a rescue that may never come. The bodies of Haruna Dan Kwambo and his daughter have been buried according to Islamic rites. The wounds of the survivors are still fresh. And the bandits who carried out the massacre are already planning their next raid, somewhere else, on some other village, where another father will watch his daughter fall, and another family will be dragged into the bush. The question that hangs in the air is not whether the government will act, but whether it will act before the next body is lowered into the dry, red earth of Sabon Birni.
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