Kebbi Village Head Killed in Dawn Attack as Police Arrest Suspects

Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor 

Gunmen have killed and beheaded the village head of Lafagu community in Bagudo Local Government Area of Kebbi State, in an attack that has forced scores of residents to flee their homes and deepened fears of a wider security breakdown along Nigeria’s northwestern border.

The Kebbi State Police Command confirmed the killing on Sunday, with the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bashir Usman, stating in a text message that the village head was killed in Lafagu under Bagudo Local Government. Usman said some arrests had been made in connection with the incident, adding that further details would be provided after investigations. The police did not disclose the identity of the deceased traditional ruler.

Community sources and crisis reporters identified the victim as Alhaji Sa’idu Mujeli, widely known as Sarkin Lafagu. According to accounts shared by the Northwest crisis reporter Bakatsine and corroborated by community sources who spoke to SaharaReporters, Mujeli was killed on Saturday morning when armed men invaded the community. The attack triggered a wave of displacement across the Kaoje-Lafagu axis, with residents, including women and children, abandoning their homes and relocating to Bagudo town for safety. “The Kaoje Lafagu area has all left their homeland and come to Bagudo town,” a community source told SaharaReporters.

The identity of the attackers remains contested, and the competing accounts reflect the complex and overlapping security crisis in Kebbi State. The police did not attribute the killing to any specific group. Findings by Punch suggested the killing may be linked to an armed ethnic militia operating in the area rather than bandits or Lakurawa insurgents. A source, Tukur Kaoje, said members of the Fulani, Kambarawa and Bargawa communities had lived together in the area for decades until the recent escalation of insecurity, allegedly associated with cattle rustling and kidnapping. According to him, following the alleged infiltration of some communities by Lakurawa fighters, some residents of the Bargawa and Kambarawa communities reportedly accused Fulani residents of being behind the attacks and subsequently formed armed groups to confront them. Kaoje alleged that the militia recently attacked Boya village, where scores of Fulani were reportedly killed. “Yes, the village head was beheaded in Lafagu, but we are not sure whether the killers were bandits or Lakurawa. There are allegations that it was carried out by an armed ethnic militia,” Kaoje said. He described the situation as tense and urged the government to intervene urgently to prevent further escalation, warning that failure to address the situation could lead to a wider cycle of communal violence.

The Lakurawa group, a shadowy jihadist organisation with links to the Islamic State Sahel Province, has been active in communities along the Nigeria-Niger border despite efforts by security forces to push them out of Kebbi State. A confidential security report prepared for the United Nations and seen by AFP said Lakurawa fighters raided the Fesken Rafi community in Kebbi State’s Arewa district near the border with Niger in June 2026. In February 2026, at least 33 people were killed when suspected Lakurawa militants attacked a district in Kebbi, with police saying the assailants crossed from Sokoto State to rustle cattle. Bagudo Local Government Area has been a particular flashpoint: in June 2026, suspected terrorists abducted a resident and burned an NSCDC checkpoint and a brothel in the Tsamiya community. In August, suspected Lakurawa terrorists set a police station ablaze in Illo town in the same local government area. Governor Nasir Idris visited communities in Bagudo LGA affected by recent bandit attacks in August, commiserating with residents and community leaders.

The killing of the village head adds to a grim pattern of attacks targeting traditional rulers in Kebbi State. In April 2026, three vigilante members were killed and a village head abducted following a suspected terrorist attack on Yantala village in Bagudu Local Government Area. In August 2026, bandits killed one person and abducted Isah Daya, the district head of Kanya in the Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area. The district head of Bajida, Alhaji Musa Muhammad Bahago, was killed by unidentified gunmen in Fakai Local Government Area. In June, Alhaji Muhammadu Mai Barga Besse, the immediate past APC Chairman of Koko/Besse Local Government Area, was murdered in captivity inside the Birnin Gwari forest after his family could not meet the ransom demanded by his abductors.

Community representatives and family members have demanded justice and urgent intervention from the Kebbi State Government and federal security agencies. They called for a heightened military and police presence in Bagudo LGA to restore order and bring the perpetrators to justice. “We are requesting justice from the government,” a community source said. The attack has intensified calls for a more robust security architecture along the border communities, where the combined threats of banditry, jihadist infiltration and communal tensions have created a volatile environment.

The Kebbi State Police Command said investigation into the incident was ongoing. As of press time, the state government had not issued an official statement on the killing or the displacement of residents from the affected communities. The arrests made in connection with the attack represent a first step toward accountability, but the flight of residents from Lafagu and neighbouring villages underscores a deeper reality: for communities along Nigeria’s northwestern frontier, the fear of the next attack is now as pervasive as the violence itself. The killing of Sarkin Lafagu is not merely the loss of a traditional ruler; it is a signal that even the most respected figures in these communities are no longer safe, and that the state’s capacity to protect them remains dangerously inadequate.

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