Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
At approximately 1 a.m. on Saturday, September 12, 2026, armed men stormed Saketa village in Dinawa Ward, Wurno Local Government Area of Sokoto State, abducting eight residents and rustling an unspecified number of livestock in an operation that lasted for hours. According to a local source, a resident of the community, the bandits were armed with dangerous weapons and moved through the village with a confidence that suggested they knew no security forces would intervene. Residents attempted to confront the attackers and put up resistance, but the bandits, who were reportedly more numerous and better armed, still managed to escape with several animals and eight people.
The attack on Saketa is not an isolated incident. It is the latest chapter in a grim and unrelenting campaign of violence that has turned Wurno Local Government Area into one of the most dangerous places in Nigeria's North-West. Just weeks earlier, on August 19, 2026, bandits launched simultaneous attacks on three communities in the same local government area—Dinawa, Munki, and Gidan Dare—killing seven people and abducting 17 others, including 15 women and girls. The attackers took advantage of heavy rainfall to launch the assaults, moving from house to house, looting valuables, destroying property, and rustling cattle. In that attack, the bandits demonstrated a level of organisation and impunity that shocked residents and drew condemnation from Amnesty International, which described the Nigerian authorities' failure to protect rural communities as "utterly shameful".
The pattern is depressingly familiar. In April 2026, bandits abducted 14 residents of Dinawa village, holding them for six weeks; only four regained their freedom despite the payment of ransom. In June, gunmen stormed Gidan Daji Alkammu village in Wurno at about 1 a.m., killing one person and abducting 10 others. In July, bandits attacked Barayar Zaki community in Kwargaba Ward, killing two residents, injuring four, and abducting nine people, including two pregnant women and three children. In September, a mosque in Marnona village, also in Wurno, was attacked during prayers, leaving one worshipper dead. The frequency and ferocity of these attacks have created a climate of perpetual fear, forcing hundreds of families to abandon their homes and farms, disrupting agricultural activities, and pushing communities to the brink of collapse.
The residents of Saketa, like countless others across Sokoto State, are left to grapple with an impossible question: how long must they continue to defend themselves against armed attackers with little to no protection from the authorities? The police have often confirmed attacks only after they have occurred, and even then, with caveats about unverified casualty figures. The military has recorded some successes, including the neutralisation of terrorists and the rescue of kidnapped victims in operations across the state. But the sheer frequency of attacks suggests that these operations, however successful in isolation, are not sufficient to stem the tide. The bandits operate with a freedom of movement that speaks to a collapse of the security architecture in rural areas, where the nearest police station or military outpost may be hours away, and where the roads are so bad that even emergency responders struggle to reach victims in time.
The abduction of eight residents from Saketa is a tragedy, but it is also a symptom of a deeper malaise. The people of Wurno, and the wider North-West, are not asking for much. They are asking for the basic right to live without fear, to farm their land without being shot at, to send their children to school without worrying that they may never return. They are asking for a government that treats their lives as valuable. As the bandits continue to raid villages, rustle livestock, and snatch residents from their homes, the question on everyone's lips is no longer whether the next attack will come, but when—and whether anyone will be there to protect them.
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