Bandits kill four security men, abduct Zamfara LG chairman

Suspected bandits have abducted the Chairman of Bungudu LGA in Zamfara, killing two police officers and two vigilantes who attempted to resist the attack.

Suspected bandits have abducted the Chairman of Bungudu Local Government Area of Zamfara State, Hon. Nura Umar Bungudu. The attackers reportedly stormed Bungudu town on Thursday night and headed straight for the council chairman’s residence in the Zango area, less than 20 kilometres from the state capital, Gusau.

A resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the gunmen overpowered security personnel guarding the residence, killing two police officers and two vigilantes before whisking away the chairman and members of his family. “They killed two policemen and two vigilantes, including one volunteer vigilante who had been actively helping to protect the town from bandit attacks,” the source said.

According to the resident, the security personnel at the residence attempted to resist the attackers but were overwhelmed by the superior firepower of the assailants. “The bandits came into the town determined to carry out their mission. The chairman’s security team put up resistance, but they were outgunned,” he said.

The source added that the gunmen initially abducted the council chairman, his wife and their children. However, security operatives who responded to the attack were able to rescue four or five of the children during a pursuit. “They kidnapped the chairman along with his wife and children, but security personnel later rescued some of the children. Unfortunately, the chairman was taken away,” he said.

He explained that although reinforcement teams were deployed, they arrived after the attackers had already fled. “The security personnel tried their best, but by the time reinforcements got there, the bandits had already executed their plan and escaped,” he said.

The resident blamed the increasing frequency of such attacks on the heavy weaponry used by the gunmen and the activities of informants who allegedly aid their operations. He urged the government and security agencies to strengthen security in Bungudu and other vulnerable communities across the state.

The abduction of a local government chairman is a significant escalation in Zamfara’s security crisis. Local government chairmen are the representatives of state authority at the grassroots level. When they can be abducted from their homes, it signals that the state has lost control of the territory. The killing of four security personnel in the process underscores the firepower that bandits now wield.

This echoes the 2021 abduction of a local government chairman in Katsina State, which similarly exposed the vulnerability of local government officials to bandit attacks. The mechanism then was different, but the result was the same: the state’s inability to protect its own representatives.

The winners: none. The losers: the families of the four security personnel killed; the children who were rescued but now have a missing father; and the Nigerian state, which has lost control of another local government area.

Bottom Line: A local government chairman has been abducted in Zamfara. Four security personnel are dead. The bandits are getting bolder. The state is losing ground.