Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
MARADUN, Nigeria – A Zamfara bandit kingpin invited a 50-member community delegation for a reconciliation meeting inside his forest hideout, then kidnapped them. The elders of Magamin Diddi village had entered Muntsira Forest in Maradun Local Government Area on Sunday, June 7, 2026, hoping to end years of deadly raids, but the man they came to see had other plans.
The bandit leader, known as Jammo, had requested the meeting after one of his fighters was killed during a military operation in Kandare village. He told community leaders he was tired of banditry and wanted peace. The villagers, desperate to stop the attacks that had turned their farmlands into battlefields, sent a 50‑man team. When the delegation arrived, Jammo betrayed them. He ordered his men to seize the visitors and march them deeper into the forest.
“They spoke one true statement against a hundred lies,” said Bello Husseini, the councillor representing Magami/Faru ward. “The people he held hostage were elderly, and he had no reason to hold them. He betrayed them by saying he is tired of banditry and opted for reconciliation.”
Jammo later released 11 of the elders but kept 39 others captive. A councillor told Daily Trust that the bandit chief released the small group “to go and tell the community people on the unfortunate incident” – a phrase that served both as a message and a warning.
The chairman of Maradun Local Government, Hon. Bello Dosara, confirmed the mass abduction but said the villagers had acted without consulting authorities. “We are against reconciliation with the bandits, and Governor Dauda Lawal never supported that, but unknown to us the people chose to go on with it,” Dosara said. He noted that the bandit kingpin had already blocked the village’s access to the local market, and that the local government had been providing weekly security escorts to enable residents to travel to market and back. “I wonder why, how they go and meet their rivals, they block access to the market and I support them with security every week,” he said.
The councillor, Bello Husseini, disclosed that Jammo is demanding ₦24 million for three rifles that he claims were seized from his men during previous confrontations. Husseini said that the bandit group had previously clashed with the Zamfara State security outfit, Askarawa, where two of Jammo’s lieutenants were killed and their rifles taken. The bandits later launched a reprisal attack during the last Ramadan period, killing two Askarawa personnel and seizing their rifles. Husseini explained the state‑sanctioned retribution: “You see we are one to one, they killed two of us and took away their rifles, and we also killed them and possessed their firearms initially.” He and the council chairman have jointly called on the government and security forces to launch an offensive on Dajin Natsira, the forest area that serves as Jammo’s stronghold, arguing that the bandits operating there have never faced sustained military confrontation throughout the history of banditry in Zamfara State.
The Zamfara State Police Command confirmed the incident. Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Yazid Abubakar, said: “We heard what happened in Maradun, though we are not sure of the number of elders kidnapped and those released. I am still following up with the DPO to get more details.” He confirmed that the divisional police post had already deployed men to the community.
The mass abduction in Maradun is the latest in a series of betrayals that have become a grim pattern in Zamfara’s conflict with armed banditry. In December 2025, bandits kidnapped 40 farmers on a reconciliation mission in the same local government area, releasing half of them a week later. In February 2026, another peace delegation was ambushed in neighbouring Anka LGA. Each attempt at dialogue has ended the same way: the bandits speak of peace, then strike when their guests are most vulnerable.
Yet the communities keep coming. The people of Magamin Diddi village have endured years of attacks that have killed their relatives, stolen their cattle, and emptied their fields. The military operations that sweep through the forests often fail to hold ground, leaving the same bandits to return once the soldiers leave. When a kingpin sends word that he wants peace, some villagers choose to believe him, even when every past betrayal warns otherwise.
“We are against any form of reconciliation because we know they are not trustworthy,” the councillor, Bello Husseini, said. But he also spoke for the families who still wait for their elderly fathers and grandfathers to return from a meeting that was never meant to be a trap. For now, 39 men remain captives in Muntsira Forest, and Jammo holds the key.
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