Gunmen abducted six imams in Zamfara State on Saturday. The police said the attackers intercepted their vehicle along the Dakko to Damri feeder road in Bakura Local Government Area at about 11:30 am. The Zamfara police command spokesperson, Yazid Abubakar, said the divisional police officer in Bakura led officers to the scene. Police and other security agencies are searching for the victims.
Kidnapping for ransom has become an industry in Zamfara and across the northwest. Armed groups, locally called bandits, operate with relative impunity. In 2024, mass abductions of schoolchildren in Kaduna and Sokoto drew national outrage. Clerics have not been spared. In 2022, gunmen abducted a prominent Islamic scholar in Kaduna. The pattern reflects weak security presence and the profitability of ransom.
The police statement did not disclose what the clerics were travelling for. Reports said five clerics were abducted after attending prayers for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election at the residence of Senator Abdulaziz Yari in Talata Mafara. Yari, a former Zamfara governor, was recently reappointed coordinator of Tinubu’s re-election campaign. The army spokesperson for 8 Division, Olaniyi Osoba, denied that any cleric was abducted at Yari’s residence. He said the military had not confirmed whether the abducted people were clerics. They had not been rescued at the time of the interview.
The discrepancy matters. The police say six imams were taken. The army says it cannot confirm they were clerics. Reports link the abduction to a political gathering. The police statement omits that link. When accounts diverge this sharply, the public is left with questions. Were the victims targeted for their religious role, their political association, or simply because they were travelling on a vulnerable road?
The broader context is grim. Zamfara remains one of Nigeria’s most dangerous states. Security forces are stretched. Ransom payments sustain the kidnap economy. Each abduction reinforces the incentive for the next.
Winners: The kidnappers, who gain leverage and potential ransom. Political actors, who avoid scrutiny if the political link is buried. Losers: The six imams and their families. Travellers on Zamfara’s rural roads. The police and army, whose conflicting accounts undermine public trust. Zamfara residents, who live with daily insecurity.
Bottom Line: Six imams were abducted. The police and army cannot agree on who they were. In Zamfara, even the facts are unsafe.