Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The bandits came at 1am. They entered Tsafe town, the headquarters of Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State, through a route the security forces had not anticipated. They opened fire sporadically in the heart of the town, broke into at least two houses, and left with five residents, including women. The entire operation took place under a curfew that starts at 10pm. The town's entrances had been blocked by security personnel and local vigilantes. It did not matter.
A resident of Tsafe, who spoke to Daily Trust on condition of anonymity, said he was woken by a friend and a neighbour asking if he could hear the shooting. "I was sleeping when a friend of mine and a neighbour called me and said, 'Are you hearing what's happening? They are shooting sporadically.' I replied that, yes, I could hear it. Then, after a while, it rained," he said. The rain came, and the shooting continued. By the time it stopped, five people were gone.
The bandits targeted the home of Lamidi, a Yoruba man and father of the former Chief of Staff to Senator Abdul'aziz Yari Abubakar, where they abducted two women. They then moved to the residence of Nura Sani, Senior Special Assistant on Political Matters to Governor Dauda Lawal, but were unsuccessful there. The specific identities of the five victims have not been disclosed.
The Chairman of Tsafe Local Government Area, Hon. Garba Shehu Fanchas, confirmed the attack and the abduction. He also confirmed that no lives were lost but made a revelation that exposed a critical security gap. "We blocked all the entrances, but unexpectedly, the bandits used another entrance that we had never expected. We just discovered that they were in the heart of the town and we heard sporadic shooting," Fanchas said. He commended the army and the state security outfit, Askarawa, for engaging the bandits and forcing them to flee. "We are yet to confirm any casualties from the bandits. And as you know, they don't usually leave their dead bodies," he added.
But the chairman's account raises more questions than answers. If all entrances were blocked, how did the bandits get in? If security personnel and vigilantes were deployed, how did the attackers reach the heart of the town, break into two houses, and escape with five captives? A second resident provided a clue. He said the areas attacked, identified as Low-cost and Nomau, had no local vigilante presence or security checkpoints, unlike other parts of the town. "Low-cost and Nomau areas have no security checkpoints, and both areas have the same entrance up to Nipost, while the local vigilantes are on constant patrol," he said. The bandits found the gap.
The attack is the latest in a relentless series of security incidents in Tsafe Local Government Area, a strategic junction on the Gusau-Funtua highway that has become a flashpoint for banditry. In August 2026, eight travellers were abducted during an attack on the highway. On August 26, troops of Operation FANSAN YAMMA rescued 14 people abducted by suspected bandits in the Tsafe area. Earlier in August, 17 bandits were killed when police and military personnel engaged attackers who had blocked the highway near Unguwar Chida village, killing several passengers and abducting others. The pattern is consistent: bandits strike, security forces respond, some victims are rescued, some are not, and the cycle repeats.
The Zamfara State Police Command had not issued an official statement on the Tsafe attack as of Saturday evening. The military had also not commented. The silence from the authorities is familiar. It is the same silence that followed previous attacks in Tsafe, in Maru, in Anka, in Bukkuyum, and in dozens of other communities across Zamfara where bandits have killed, maimed, and abducted with near-total impunity.
Fanchas has called for the deployment of more security personnel to Tsafe. "We need more security personnel deployment," he pleaded. But the people of Tsafe have heard that plea before. They have heard it after every attack. They have watched as security personnel are deployed, checkpoints are set up, curfews are imposed, and then, weeks or months later, the bandits find another route, another gap, another soft target. The curfew did not stop the bandits on Friday night. The checkpoints did not stop them. The blocking of entrances did not stop them. The only thing that stopped them was the army and the vigilantes engaging them after they had already taken what they came for.
For the families of the five abducted residents, the wait has begun. They do not know where their loved ones are, who is holding them, or what demands will be made. They do not know if they will see them again. They only know that at 1am, bandits walked into the heart of a town that was supposed to be protected, took five people, and walked out. The question on everyone's lips is the same: how? And the answer, for now, is silence.
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