Renewed attacks, abductions and displacement are testing local peace arrangements and security operations in parts of Sokoto and Katsina states.
Months after many communities in Katsina State entered local peace arrangements with armed groups, renewed attacks, abductions and displacement are testing those arrangements and the security measures meant to protect rural residents.
Security agencies have responded with extra deployments, rescue operations and raids on suspected bandit hideouts.
Results vary by location. Some communities report improvements after local negotiations and security operations. Troops have rescued some abducted residents and say they have disrupted planned attacks. Elsewhere, families remain displaced, and the attacks continue.
Casualty and displacement figures remain fluid and often rest on local accounts that are difficult to verify independently. Available evidence does not show that fighters displaced by military operations in Zamfara are driving the renewed violence elsewhere.
The pressure is sharpest in the Rabah Local Government Area of Sokoto State.
In the early hours of 7 September, suspected bandits attacked Tofa, killing residents, abducting others and rustling livestock. Reports put the death toll at between seven and 10, while estimates of those abducted ranged from 35 to about 40.
Sokoto police spokesperson Ahmad Rufai confirmed the attack to PREMIUM TIMES, but had not provided final figures when the newspaper reported the incident.
The Tofa attack came about a week after troops said they intercepted armed men advancing towards Ghandi, a community in Rabah. On 30 August, eight farmers were killed, and five were injured in an attack in Ghandi, according to police figures. Days later, Operation FANSAN YAMMA said troops intercepted another group of armed men moving towards the community.
The interception did not prevent the later attack on Tofa. No evidence links the men stopped near Ghandi to those who attacked Tofa.
When PREMIUM TIMES contacted army spokesperson Olaniyi Osoba, he declined to talk discuss military operations over the telephone and invited the reporter to the 8 Division headquarters in Sokoto.
Further south in Kebbe Local Government Area, the consequences are clearer.
On 4 September, the police confirmed that five people had been killed and three injured in an attack on Girkau and neighbouring communities the previous day.
The attack followed reports that suspected bandits had demanded ₦40 million from residents of Kebbe town. Mr Rufai confirmed that police were aware of the demand and said the Anti-Kidnapping Unit was investigating.
Girkau later came under another attack.
By mid-September, the Kebbe Local Government Council said it was providing food and cash assistance to 150 households displaced from Ungushi, Girkau, Margai, Kebbe East, Kebbe West and other affected communities.
Council chairman Musa Garba Kuchi said displaced families were taking refuge in Kebbe. The district head of the town, Lawal Margai, also acknowledged that insecurity had forced residents from their communities.
Mr Kuchi said improved security operations had encouraged some residents to return, but the council did not identify the communities or say how many households had returned. At least 150 assisted households remained displaced in Kebbe town.
A similar pattern is unfolding across southern Katsina, though much of the displacement is harder to count.
Residents fleeing attacks in Bakori, Funtua, Faskari and Dandume have mostly moved in with relatives rather than gathering in formal camps. Many families have relocated to Dandume town, Funtua, Yan-Kara, Mairuwa, Katsina, Zaria and Kano.
The scattered movement makes the scale less visible.
Reports that as many as 15 communities around Dandume had been deserted have been disputed. Dandume council chairman Bishir Sabiu said no community between Dandume and Funtua had been completely deserted, though he acknowledged the insecurity.
Mr Sabiu confirmed a recent attack on Takalamawa in which three residents were killed, and three were injured. He also said vigilantes and community patrol members killed three suspected attackers.
An International Organisation for Migration assessment of attacks between 9 and 14 August in Bakori, Dandume and Jibia recorded 2,723 people affected across 629 households. Of that number, 1,535 people from 218 households were displaced, comprising 697 children, 495 women and 343 men.
The affected settlements included Labo Kankia in Bakori; Magaji Wondo Dansuda, Gyazamar, Bokolo and Unguwar Rimin Jiruwa in Dandume; and Daddara in Jibia.
The assessment does not break the figures down by local government area, so the 1,535 cannot be attributed to Dandume alone.
Several communities had previously participated in local peace arrangements.
On 20 September 2025, representatives of Sabuwa and Dandume reportedly entered a ceasefire with armed groups.
Weeks later, representatives from Bakori, Funtua, Kafur, Malumfashi and Kankara met armed-group leaders at Kakumi in Bakori Local Government Area.
Among the community representatives were Abdurrahman Kandarawa of Bakori and Audu Goya of Funtua. The representatives of the armed groups were reported to include Ado Aleru of Yankuzo in Zamfara, Isiya Kwashen Garwa of Guga Ward in Bakori, Babaro of Gidan Gamji and Iliya Zango Dan Sabau.
