Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
At least 10 residents have been abducted and an Islamic teacher killed after bandits attacked Gidan Kare village in Tureta Local Government Area of Sokoto State on Thursday, August 27, 2026. The attackers, who had reportedly hidden in a primary school in the village, struck around 8 a.m. after residents had returned from Tureta town, where many of them usually spend the night to avoid attacks.
A resident who spoke on condition of anonymity said the attackers opened fire on the villagers, killing an Islamic teacher, Mallam Abubakar Danjimme, injuring another resident identified as Dan Abu, and abducting 10 others. Those reportedly abducted include Mallam Dan Manga, Shehu, twins Hassana and Hussaina, Badaru, two children of Mallam Ayuba, Saratu, and two others. The resident said he attended the burial of the Islamic teacher in Tureta town on Thursday evening.
The attack on Gidan Kare is part of a disturbing pattern of violence that has turned the lives of residents in Tureta LGA into a daily struggle for survival. For a long time, only men remained in the village at night while women, children, and youths trekked to Tureta town daily for safety. "They knew that the villagers sleep in Tureta and return in the morning," a resident told Daily Trust. "So they planned the attack and hid in a primary school in the village. They waited until they saw that many people had entered the village before coming out". The attackers also entered neighbouring Daddade and Janwake communities but found no residents, as many had fled their homes because of insecurity.
The Sokoto State Police Command confirmed the attack, with spokesperson DSP Ahmad Rufai saying details were still being gathered. Residents have called on the government and security agencies to intensify efforts to address attacks in the area, including taking measures to prevent armed groups from operating from forested areas.
The attack on Gidan Kare occurred just hours after bandits launched another assault on Gorau village in Goronyo Local Government Area, where they killed four residents and abducted four others. In that attack, the assailants specifically targeted families who had recently lost relatives in a boat tragedy that claimed 65 lives. The bereaved families had earlier received N1 million each and bags of grains from the Sokoto State Government during a condolence visit. The Village Head of Gorau, Alhaji Aliyu Magaji Na-Batsami, said the attackers went from house to house searching for the money.
The Question of Selective Outrage
The attacks in Sokoto raise a troubling question: why does violence in Plateau State—where Christians are predominantly targeted—receive global attention as "Christian genocide," while similar attacks against Muslim communities in the North-West rarely receive the same level of international scrutiny?
The "Christian genocide" narrative has gained significant traction in recent years. In 2020, the United States designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under President Donald Trump over what the US described as severe violations of religious freedom. The designation was removed under the Biden administration in 2021 but was reinstated by Trump on October 31, 2025. US Congressman Riley Moore has repeatedly insisted that Nigeria must not be removed from the CPC list, stating, "Christians are being slaughtered across the Middle Belt with impunity. We must stop the genocide".
However, critics argue that this narrative is one-sided. The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has alleged that Muslims in Nigeria suffer more persecution than Christians, but these issues have not been escalated in the media. MURIC also accused what it called "Christo-Western media" and foreign governments of promoting the Christian genocide narrative to attract sympathy. The organisation pointed out that while 200 churches have been lost in the North, 6,000 mosques have also been destroyed.
Peacebuilding actors have warned that the "Christian genocide" rhetoric is eroding their work, threatening to unravel much of the progress communities have made. The violence in Nigeria's north-central region primarily arises from ethnic and resource clashes between Fulani herders and farmers, not a coordinated Christian genocide, despite religious alignments exacerbating divides. Boko Haram targets the North-East, banditry plagues the North-West, and communal clashes affect both Christians and Muslims across the Middle Belt.
The Nigerian government has consistently denied claims of a Christian genocide. The Muslim Rights Concern has also criticised what it described as the exclusion of Islamic scholars and Muslim perspectives from national conversations on alleged Christian genocide. The Mangu Concerned Muslim Consultative Forum in Plateau State has accused Christian groups of long-standing attacks on Muslim residents.
The attack on Gidan Kare village is not an isolated incident. In August alone, armed groups have killed dozens of Muslims across the North-West. On August 16, suspected terrorists killed about 30 people during Friday prayers in Ungushi village, Sokoto State. On August 20, the Fides news agency reported that a newly formed group operating in the grey area between banditry, organized crime, and jihadism had carried out a series of attacks in Sokoto.
A Call for Equal Attention
The residents of Gidan Kare and countless other communities across Nigeria's North-West are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for equal attention. They are asking why their dead are not counted, why their abducted children are not headlines, and why their suffering does not move the international community to action.
"The attackers appeared to have observed the movement of the villagers before carrying out the attack," a resident of Tureta town told Daily Trust. For too long, the international community and the Nigerian media have observed the suffering in the North-West without acting. The attack on Gidan Kare is a reminder that insecurity in Nigeria does not discriminate. Muslims are being killed in their homes, on their farms, and even while observing their prayers. Their suffering deserves the same attention and the same outrage as any other community.
As one resident lamented, "For a very long time now, only the men sleeps with all their eyes widely opened in the village while the youths, women and children makes it a daily routine to trek to Tureta town to stay alive". The time has come to open our eyes to the suffering of all Nigerians, regardless of their religion or location. Every innocent life lost to insecurity matters equally. The world must stop treating some deaths as more newsworthy than others.
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