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I know where every bandit leader is in Zamfara – Gov Lawal
Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State has stated that, if granted direct authority over security forces, he can eliminate banditry in the state within a two-month period.
In a widely circulated video released on Wednesday, the governor became emotional while describing recent violent attacks.
He identified the main challenge in resolving the security crisis as the fact that security personnel in Zamfara currently take orders from the federal government in Abuja rather than the state administration.
Lawal emphasized that his intimate knowledge of the local geography and the locations of criminal leaders would enable him to quickly dismantle the bandit networks if he were empowered to command security agencies.
He stated, “I know the exact locations of every bandit leader in Zamfara, even from my phone. I can show you where they are right now. However, I do not have control over the security forces, and that is the core issue.”
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The governor referenced a recent massacre in Shinkafi Local Government Area where many lives were lost, explaining that security operatives on site refused to intervene because they were awaiting directives from Abuja.
“People were under attack, and despite my repeated calls to security agencies, they said they were waiting for orders from Abuja. How can I protect my people under such circumstances?” he expressed with frustration.
Despite these limitations, Lawal highlighted that his government has continued to provide logistical support and funding to security personnel. He revealed that 150 patrol vehicles have been distributed among the police, military, Department of State Services, and civil defence units. Additionally, thousands of Community Protection Guards and over 2,000 hunters from Borno and Yobe States have been recruited to assist in combating the bandits.
He also stressed the importance of tackling the underlying causes of rural violence, noting efforts to improve access to water, education, and other essential services, which he believes will foster peace.
The governor accused political rivals of exploiting the insecurity for personal gain, warning that such actions are detrimental to the wellbeing of Zamfara’s citizens.
“The politicization of insecurity does not harm me personally; it is the people of Zamfara who suffer. Some individuals do not want us to succeed, but I will persist,” he declared.
Lawal pointed to the heavy security presence during a recent by-election in the state as evidence that resources are available but are being prioritized for political events rather than protecting lives.
While Boko Haram and its offshoot ISWAP have terrorized Nigeria’s North-East for over ten years—resulting in more than 35,000 deaths and displacing over two million people—the North-West faces a distinct but equally severe security challenge.
In states like Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, and Sokoto, armed groups originally involved in cattle rustling have evolved into heavily armed gangs conducting mass kidnappings and raids on rural communities.
Zamfara has been particularly hard hit, with widespread abductions, killings, and attacks forcing many residents to flee their homes and farmers to abandon their fields.
Notably, in February 2021, approximately 300 schoolgirls were abducted in Jangebe, Zamfara, and in December 2020, over 300 schoolboys were kidnapped in neighboring Katsina. These incidents drew international attention to Nigeria’s escalating insecurity.
Governor Lawal’s plea coincides with ongoing discussions by President Bola Tinubu and the National Economic Council regarding the creation of state police forces—a reform long advocated by governors in states plagued by violence.
His statements reflect the frustration of state leaders who face increasing demands from their citizens but lack control over security operations.
For Zamfara’s residents, where villages are being emptied by armed groups and agricultural activities are stalling, the governor’s claim that he could end banditry within two months if empowered offers both hope and highlights the constraints of Nigeria’s centralized security system.
Since taking office in May 2023, Lawal has consistently called for the establishment of state police, echoing President Tinubu’s recent support for the initiative.
Advocates argue that local police forces would allow state governments to directly address their security challenges, while opponents caution against potential political misuse.
Justice Muhammad Nuraddeen Bello of High Court sitting in Sokoto State has sentenced three men, including a foreign national, to death by hanging, after convicting them on charges bordering on terrorism and arms proliferation.
The convicts, Yusuf Muhammad (alias Sallau), a Nigerien; Jabbi Alhaji Yalle; and Kabiru Muhammad, were apprehended on 13th June, 2025, by the Department of State Services (DSS) Counter Terrorism Unit in connection with cross-border criminal activities bordering on arms trafficking and terrorism.
Bello, who found all three defendants guilty as charged and sentenced them to death by hanging, while also ordering the forfeiture of all monetary exhibits recovered from the convicts to the Federal Government, said: “The conviction is the latest in a series of successful prosecutions by the DSS in its sustained operations against terrorism and organised cross-border criminal networks across Nigeria.”
The sentencing is coming about two weeks after the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja sentenced each of the five suspects arrested on May 31, 2026, by the DSS for their involvement in the November 21, 2025, attack on St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, to 25 years’ imprisonment.
Justice Binta Nyako, had handed down the judgment after the men, including two Nigeriens, pleaded guilty to all four terrorism-related charges, bordering on support for the commission of an act of terrorism, breaching both Section 16 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act, were pressed against them.
According to Count One, the men were accused of jointly conspiring to assist a terrorist by agreeing and intentionally playing various roles towards conveying 15 AK 103 rifles as well as about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa region, Republic of Niger, to one Malam Ahmad, a member of the Boko Haram terrorist group based in Borgu, Niger State, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Primate Elijah Ayodele, is on the verge of coughing out a whopping N10billion, if he fails to offer unrestrained apology to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State within the next 24 hours, and retract his claim that the former Minister of Defence is bidding his time to betray Peter Obi, to whom he is to contest the 2027 presidential election as a running mate.
Without doing so, the controversial cleric, should be ready for a major court battle with the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the platform on which the pair is to contest the election.
In a letter indicating a legal action against Ayodele of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church over defamatory remarks, Kwankwaso, through Magaji Mato Ibrahim, SAN & Co., his lawyers demanded an immediate retraction and apology from the cleric over the allegations.
Details of the letter, dated June 11, and unveiled through the X platform of the legal team, was based on a viral video recorded during a live-streamed church service, where the preacher made allegations targeting Kwankwaso’s integrity as Peter Obi’s running mate under the NDC.
Quoting the cleric as stating: “KWANKWASO IS A FAKE TO OBI, KWANKWASO WILL BETRAY YOU. KWANKWASO HAS BEEN PAID TO BE VICE PRESIDENT TO OBI AMONG OTHER LIBELOUS COMMENTS WHILE PRETENDING TO BE A PREACHER,” the former governor said the comments were unprovoked, grossly unfounded, and carefully designed to create a rift within the ranks of the political party and its supporters.
Handing Ayodele a 24-hour ultimatum to publish a full and unequivocal retraction across all social media platforms and news outlets with the same prominence as the original video, they also demanded a written undertaking that he would cease and desist from making any further malicious statements against their client, warning that failure to comply, would lead to full legal actions.
The letter stated: “We shall claim substantial damages to the tune of Ten Billion Naira and cost of the action on a full indemnity basis amongst other reliefs.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday demanded the immediate end to the exportation of minerals from countries in Africa in their raw forms, which he said had led to massive exploitation of the continent.
The President, told member countries of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), a forum of Ministers in charge of Mining and Solid Minerals on the continent to speak with one voice to promote, collective interests, ensure value addition, and prevent the continent from becoming merely a source of raw materials for the rest of the world.
As the Grand Patron of the group, chaired by Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, gave the charge while receiving a delegation of AMSG in the State House, Tinubu told the delegation that the group had a critical role to play in strengthening Africa’s bargaining power in the global mineral market and ensuring that the continent derives maximum value from its natural resources.
His words: “ What we should do is avoid bureaucracy and deceit; we must put an end to exploitation. The rest of the world won’t mind if your country is a cesspit of dams and rubbish and excavates your raw materials without giving value.
“It is our responsibility to collaborate and cooperate to ensure that these metals and minerals bring value to us, bring technology to us, and we can do it. It is how much each country will put into the research, development and refinery. I don’t see reasons we cannot demand centralisation of that conversation somewhere on the continent. So why not utilise that in our research and development and knowledge-based economy to enhance the quality of life and bring prosperity to our people.”
Emphasising that Africa possessed enormous mineral wealth that should be strategically harnessed to drive industrialisation, create jobs and accelerate economic transformation across the continent, the President, said the era of exporting raw minerals without local processing and beneficiation must give way to a new model that encourages investment in local industries, technology transfer and the development of value chains that retain wealth within Africa.
Alake, who had earlier expressed gratitude to the President for his exemplary leadership under the Renewed Hope Agenda, said the gesture had shown support for Nigeria’s mineral sector, especially in the local value-addition and economic diversification drive, where artisanal miners are empowered.
He told the President: “You encouraged us to look at the focal point of the establishment of this group, which is to ensure that the African natural resources, especially with regards to minerals, critical matters, are localised, the beneficiation coming directly to Africans generally.
“You charged us that we should set our sails very high and ensure that local value addition is a pivot around which all the objectives of this organisation should revolve.
“So, sir, we have gone implemented your charge and we are quitted that today local value addition is reverberating all over Africa.”
He added that some member countries have gone ahead to ban the export of raw minerals.
He explained members of the body were in Abuja for the Fifth edition of the African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS 2026), to push for a new continental approach to resource management and industrial development.
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