How Bandits Burnt 12 Family Members Alive In Zamfara

Twelve members of one family were burnt to death in Maradun local government area of Zamfara State when bandits attacked their community, set their house ablaze and left without resistance.

The victims were the family members of a local vigilante, Mallam Muhammadu Sani.

The attack occurred on Saturday night, November 7, 2026, at Gidan Taba village, Dosara Birnin Kaya Ward, Maradun local government area.

The tragedy, according to the Village Head and the Local Government Chairman, was not just an attack by bandits. It was a failure of coordination — a night when the police and the army did not respond, and when the two forces meant to protect the village, the Community Protection Guards (CPG) and the Yan Sakai vigilantes, did not move together.

In Zamfara today, two armed groups claim to protect the same villages.

One is official, uniformed and paid by government. The other is informal, unpaid and armed with dane guns.

They are the CPG, popularly called Askarawa, created by Governor Dauda Lawal under a 2024 law, and the Yan Sakai/Yan Banga vigilantes formed by villagers out of desperation.

On paper, they should complement each other. On the ground in Shinkafi, Zurmi and Maradun, they are rivals. And in Maradun, villagers say that rivalry has now cost 12 lives.

The Village Head, Salahudeen Bello, told LEADERSHIP that the 12 victims were members of one family who were trapped inside their house when the bandits set it on fire.

He said the attack was reported promptly to the conventional security forces — the police and the army — but they failed to respond in time.

Bello alleged that what was missing that night was synergy.

According to him, a strong synergy between the Vigilante and the CPG would have saved the 12 family members.

“If Vigilante and CPG had worked together that night, those 12 people would not have died,” Bello said.

He said the vigilantes who sleep in the village were ready to respond, but without coordination, support and backup from the CPG and the conventional forces, they were overwhelmed.

“The vigilantes are here with us. They know the terrain, they know the routes the bandits use. But they cannot fight alone with dane guns against bandits with sophisticated weapons. They needed the CPG and the soldiers to move with them,” he said.

Bello said the Maradun incident is not an isolated case. It is what happens when two forces meant to protect the same people do not talk to each other, do not share intelligence, and do not move together.

The Chairman of Maradun local government area, Sanusi Ahmed Dosara, has said that 12 members of the family of a local vigilante, Mallam Muhammadu Sani, were burnt to death by suspected bandits in Gidan Taba village.

Speaking exclusively with LEADERSHIP, Dosara gave a chilling account of how the attack happened, and alleged that security operatives failed to respond despite distress calls.

According to him, the bandits did not fire a shot when they entered the town. They went straight for the house, discovered that members of the family were inside a room, and set the room ablaze.

“They did not fire when they entered the town. They went for the people and then they found out that some people were inside the room. They fired the room and all of them were burnt. That is what happened,” the Chairman said.

He said other vigilante members were not close by when the bandits struck.

Dosara said he immediately contacted security agencies, but got no response.

“I informed them, I tried to call security and they did not respond. That is the problem,” he said.

He explained that he called the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the area, but he did not pick his calls.

“I called the police DPO, he didn’t respond. He later called back that he was sleeping initially, but he will respond, but he didn’t,” Dosara said.

He later called the Sector Commander at Gidan Kono, who told him he had been posted to Bakura, but promised to inform the new commander.

“I called the Sector Commander of Gidan Kono. He said he has been posted to Bakura. I asked him to please call the new one to inform him of what is happening. He told me that he really told him, but he did not respond,” Dosara said.

The Chairman said after visiting the village, he went to the Army camp in Gidan Kono to ask why they did not respond.

He said the soldiers told him they heard gunshots from three different places and did not know where to go.

Dosara lamented that communities in Maradun have continued to live in fear despite the presence of both the CPG and the vigilantes, because the two groups operate separately instead of as one joint force.

He called for an urgent harmonisation of operations in the local government, saying the CPG, Yan Sakai, police and army must work under one command and one communication channel during attacks.

“What happened in Maradun should not happen again. If our forces work together, we can prevent this kind of tragedy,” the Chairman said.

The CPG was established by law in 2024 and launched in January 2024 with 2,645 personnel trained for three months by the military, police and Department of State Services (DSS) on arms handling, intelligence gathering and community policing. The target is 5,200 personnel across the 14 local government areas.

They are funded through the Zamfara State Security Trust Fund and reportedly received between N100,000 and N130,000 monthly as allowance, make arrests and refer cases to the Ministry of Justice.

The outfit is now under a new commandant, retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police Muhammad Shehu Dalijan, appointed in December 2025, with a mandate to overhaul the service and restore command and control.

Yan Sakai, on the other hand, has no law and no salary. They emerged in 2018 when former Governor Abdulaziz Yari recruited vigilantes. They were disbanded in 2019 over allegations of extrajudicial killings, especially against Fulani communities, but resurfaced because communities felt abandoned.

They are armed with locally made dane guns, boxer motorcycles and whatever ammunition villagers contribute.

LEADERSHIP findings show CPG operatives often operate from local government headquarters and main roads due to lack of fuel and logistics.

The problem is old. In April 2024, the first Commandant, Col Rabiu Garba (rtd), was suspended after complaining on Vision FM Gusau that his men were paid only once in four months. He said he collected N98,000 personally and bought fuel with his own money.

Villagers in Maradun say: “When bandits attack at 2am, we call Yan Sakai because they sleep here. Askarawa will come in the morning.” A resident, Saidu Bala, alleged that the CPG also collect monies at road checkpoints without addressing security threats when bandits strike.

On March 22, 2025, in Bagega Forest, Anka LGA, a joint team of Army, CPG and Yan Sakai killed several bandits but lost six CPG operatives and four vigilantes in an ambush on their way back. Governor Lawal confirmed two CPG operatives and one vigilante were still missing.

On October 20, 2026, in Birnin Tudu, Gummi LGA, over 59 motorcycles carrying bandits attacked the community. It was Yan Sakai and Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) who held the village for three days before air component of Operation Fansan Yamma intervened, killing over 30 bandits.

CPG accuses Yan Sakai of being unprofessional and fuelling ethnic reprisals. Yan Sakai accuses CPG of being Abuja politicians who avoid forests.

Both accuse each other of harbouring informants. In some villages, CPG refuses to share intelligence with vigilantes, and vigilantes refuse to give information to CPG.

Halima Jalo, 32, of Tsafe LGA, told LEADERSHIP that Yan Sakai response is faster and genuine. “When we call CPG in our village they always give excuses, is either there’s no fuel or the vehicle breaks down, so we just have to rely on the local we know because they are there for us.”

CPG gets salaries, Hilux vehicles and promised Armoured Personnel Carriers. Yan Sakai gets nothing.

In Shinkafi and Zurmi, farmers contribute N500 to N1,000 monthly for vigilantes’ feeding and bullets, while still paying levies for CPG fuel.

A farmer in Moriki, Zurmi, who pleaded anonymity, said: “We pay twice but we are protected once. At night, only the Yan vigilantes show up.”

The Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Abubakar Nakwada, when appointing the new commandant, ordered “restoration of clear and compelling command and control structure, and overhaul of the CPG for better organisation and performance.”

For that value to count, Zamfara needs a joint command under the Commissioner for Internal Security, Capt Bala Mairiga (rtd), integrating CPG, Yan Sakai and police; vetting of Yan Sakai to remove those accused of abuses; joint logistics and fuelling system to stop double taxation on villagers; and clear law that CPG and harmonised vigilantes must refer cases to Ministry of Justice, not jungle justice.

Until then, Zamfara has two armies fighting one war, and the gap between government guns and village dane guns is where bandits operate — and where, as in Gidan Taba, Maradun, 12 members of one family were burnt to death.