Northern Nigeria is reeling from relentless bloodshed. A recent slaughter in Maru, a town in the northern state of Zamfara, shows just how badly the government is failing to stop the bandits tearing through the region.
Last week, bandits kidnapped the Chief Imam of Maru and his whole family, putting them through unspeakable suffering. They reportedly tortured his two-year-old son to death, pressing a scorching hot stone against his feet as he screamed in agony until he succumbed to the pain. The other children endured the same cruelty. They killed the whole family, even after 11 million naira ransom was paid.
The murders reportedly happened same day as Nigeria’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was attending the wedding of the governor’s daughter in Katsina, a neighbouring state. Now, anger is boiling over as the bloodshed is unending.
The Maru massacre is just another horrifying example of how bad the situation is in Northern Nigeria. Bandits are turning whole communities into places of fear. This is not some rare tragedy. It is part of the endless violence tearing through the North, especially in the north-western states of Zamfara, Sokoto, and Katsina. Warlords like the infamous Bello Turji rule these areas now, leaving nothing but bloodshed behind.
A Fulani, born in 1994 in Shinkafi, Zamfara State, Turji has carried out numerous atrocities. Back in 2022, his gang slaughtered nearly 200 people in villages in the Anka and Bukkuyum local government areas of Zamfara, many of them women and children. Turji justifies his actions as reprisals against the killing of his Fulani people, which he says the government has ignored.
Dogo Gide and the late Ali Kachalla carved their names in blood across the region. Gide, who joined forces with Boko Haram in 2019, orchestrated the brazen kidnapping of dozens of students from Federal Government College Yauri in 2021. Kachalla’s men terrorised Zamfara’s Dansadau area, even allegedly shooting down a Nigerian Air Force jet in July 2021 before meeting his end two years later. They both left legacies of burned villages and graves.
Bandits thrive in the vast ungoverned spaces across the north, remote villages where police rarely go, poverty runs deep, and government barely exists. What started as fights over grazing land has turned into something far worse. Now it is about snatching people for ransom, shaking down whole communities, and slaughtering anyone who resists. The Crisis Group found these killers often bankroll their war through Zamfara’s illegal gold mines, where blood has become the price for nature’s gift.
Many believe the Nigerian government has not done enough to handle the crisis, leaving towns like Maru completely at the mercy of armed gangs. The military seems to be fighting with its hands tied. A 2025 Taylor & Francis study, titled “Shock and Awe”, says Nigeria’s military is stretched thin across the northwest, and hobbled by empty coffers, understaffing, and aging weapons that should have been retired years ago. Worse still, the funds meant to drive their efforts often vanish before reaching the frontline troops.
Allegations of rights abuses have further weakened its legitimacy. Human Rights Watch and other sources document military abuses, including erroneous airstrikes killing civilians, 85 in Kaduna in 2023, and 33 in Zamfara in 2024, which erode public trust and complicate counter-banditry efforts.
The government’s complete dependence on military force, without addressing root causes, has also been criticised. The study by Taylor & Francis points out that Nigeria’s internal security, mainly handled by the Nigerian Police, the EFCC, and the DSS, suffers from poor coordination and outdated methods.
An example was the decision to shut down telecommunication services in parts of the Northwest in 2023, intended to disrupt bandit communication, which instead harmed local communities without curbing the violence. Regional security watchers have also said that the absence of a region-wide rehabilitation program for repentant bandits, unlike the Operation Safe Corridor for ex-Boko Haram fighters, further limits the government’s options.
Political will is another glaring issue. Bello Matawalle, the Minister of State for Defence and a Zamfara native, has been conspicuously silent on the Maru massacre. Northern governors and elites have also failed to act decisively. An X user wrote on May 6, that “Arewa lives don’t matter… to the northern governors, political elites, religious clerics, or intellectuals,” calling for the North to unite and confront the crisis independently.
The bandits seem to be smiling to the bank. A 2024 ACLED and Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime joint brief notes that kidnapping was a primary revenue source for armed bandit groups in Northwest Nigeria from 2019 to 2022, replacing cattle rustling. It highlights a decline in kidnappings in 2023 due to reduced profitability, with bandits shifting to levies on farming communities and gold mining
The human toll of this crisis is incalculable. In Maru, the loss of the Imam and his family has left a void that words cannot fill. The 2-year-old’s final moments, his tiny feet burning as he cried for mercy, haunt those who hear the story. The outcry has been palpable. Many have expressed fears that the north will not be free from this terrorism anytime soon, suggesting weekly advocacy spaces to pressure authorities before the situation deteriorates any further.
The government’s response has been slow, but not absent. Last year, Matawalle sat down with Defence chief, General Christopher Musa, and other officers from the Army’s 8th Division in Sokoto to map out a plan. Even with these meetings, The killings have continued.
In September 2024, Nigerian soldiers publicly challenged Turji in a video, reported by local online media platform, Naija News, expressing frustration over the lack of orders to pursue him. “If you’re killing innocent civilians, you’re not man enough. Leave them and come face us,” they said, their voices heavy with anger and helplessness.
The Maru massacre lays bare Northern Nigeria’s deadly crisis in all its grim reality. The empty fields are controlled by young men who pick up guns instead of ploughs. Vast spaces lack government presence, and corruption bleeds security dry. This is why the killing will not end, according to security experts.
The International Crisis Group concluded in its assessment that half-measures will not end the killings. The report was unequivocal. It said sustainable peace demands functioning local governments, genuine economic development, and empowered communities. Security operations alone are merely treating symptoms while the disease spreads. However, as long as leaders remain detached, symbolised by Tinubu’s presence at a wedding while bandits struck in Zamfara, the cycle of violence will continue.
For now, the people of Maru mourn. Their grief is a silent rebuke to a nation failing its citizens. The Imam’s family, like so many others, deserve justice and protection from the darkness engulfing the North. Nigeria stands at a crossroads. Action must come, or the cries of the innocent will echo into a future too grim to imagine.
