{"id":6908,"date":"2026-06-13T20:17:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T20:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/?p=6908"},"modified":"2026-06-13T20:18:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T20:18:39","slug":"from-fear-to-footsteps-how-zamfaras-police-are-reclaiming-ground-from-bandits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/06\/13\/from-fear-to-footsteps-how-zamfaras-police-are-reclaiming-ground-from-bandits\/","title":{"rendered":"From Fear to Footsteps: How Zamfara&#8217;s Police Are Reclaiming Ground from Bandits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On a dusty road between Gurusu and Anka, three travellers disappeared into the forest at gunpoint.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For many residents of Zamfara State, such incidents have become grimly familiar. A blocked highway, armed men emerging from the bush, and another family left waiting for news. In parts of north-west Nigeria, bandits have long dictated movement, commerce and, at times, even where people can live.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But this time, the story took a different turn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Within hours of receiving a distress call, police operatives tracked the kidnappers into a nearby forest. A gun battle followed. By the time the shooting stopped, the abductors had fled, leaving behind blood trails and, more importantly, their captives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The three victims returned home unharmed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6910 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/d489c3e1-1bb8-4551-9b2f-46e72e2fe0d2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/d489c3e1-1bb8-4551-9b2f-46e72e2fe0d2.jpeg 750w, https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/d489c3e1-1bb8-4551-9b2f-46e72e2fe0d2-225x300.jpeg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">Elsewhere in the state, another police operation was unfolding \u2014 one that prevented tragedy before it occurred.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">Acting on intelligence provided through community sources, police operatives and explosive ordnance specialists recently uncovered and destroyed an improvised explosive device planted along the Kunchin Kalgo axis in Tsafe Local Government Area. Investigators believe the device had been positioned to target commuters travelling along the route. Its discovery meant that a road which could have become the scene of devastation instead became another example of how intelligence-led policing can quietly save lives without a single shot being fired.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6912 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/be1ea316-7826-423c-90e5-e029d0c1c02b.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"810\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/be1ea316-7826-423c-90e5-e029d0c1c02b.jpeg 810w, https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/be1ea316-7826-423c-90e5-e029d0c1c02b-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/be1ea316-7826-423c-90e5-e029d0c1c02b-768x1024.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Taken together, the two incidents illustrate the evolving nature of the security challenge in Zamfara. In one case, officers pursued armed kidnappers into the forest to rescue their captives. In the other, they neutralised a hidden threat before it could claim victims. Different tactics, but the same objective: denying criminal groups the ability to spread fear and disrupt everyday life.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In another context, the rescue might have been viewed as an isolated success. In Zamfara today, however, it forms part of a broader picture emerging across some of the state&#8217;s most troubled communities \u2014 one in which security forces are attempting not merely to respond to attacks but to reverse the geography of fear.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hundreds of kilometres away from the Gurusu-Anka road lies Fegin Kanawa, a community that until recently had become a symbol of displacement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Months of bandit attacks had emptied the village. Families fled. Farms were abandoned. Homes stood silent. The difficult terrain leading into the community, combined with fears of landmines and improvised explosive devices, turned the area into a place many residents no longer dared to approach.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In conflict zones, abandonment often becomes a victory in itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When people leave, armed groups gain more than territory. They gain psychological control. Empty villages become evidence of who truly governs the landscape.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The challenge for security agencies, therefore, is not simply defeating criminals in firefights. It is convincing ordinary people that it is safe to return.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That was the task facing the Zamfara State Police Command.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the leadership of Commissioner of Police Ahmed Mohammed Bello, officers launched an operation aimed at restoring security around Fegin Kanawa and neighbouring settlements. Patrols were intensified, strategic locations secured, and security assets deployed across the area.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One family returned. Then another.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Soon, the trickle became a movement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than 5,000 displaced residents eventually made their way back to Fegin Kanawa, returning to homes, farms and livelihoods many feared had been lost forever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6911 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2f124668-f7fc-4de9-8df8-e71b7998d09b.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2f124668-f7fc-4de9-8df8-e71b7998d09b.jpeg 960w, https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2f124668-f7fc-4de9-8df8-e71b7998d09b-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2f124668-f7fc-4de9-8df8-e71b7998d09b-768x432.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Behind these gains lies a broader effort by the Nigeria Police Force to reclaim communities where criminal groups had come to dictate daily life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The directive from Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu has been both clear and ambitious: transform no-go zones into go-home zones.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speaking during a series of strategic meetings with senior officers this week, the police chief urged commanders across the country to maintain relentless pressure on criminal networks and reclaim territories where fear has too often shaped daily life. The message was straightforward: insecurity must be confronted not only with force, but with persistence, intelligence and visible results.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Across several states, including Zamfara, signs of that approach are beginning to emerge. From the rescue of kidnap victims along remote highways to the return of displaced residents to communities once abandoned to bandits, police formations are increasingly measuring success not simply by arrests or weapons recovered, but by something far more tangible \u2014 the ability of ordinary people to travel, work and return home without fear.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Residents reportedly greeted returning security teams with prayers, songs and words of gratitude.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Zamfara, such scenes represent more than a return home. They signal the return of confidence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Security experts often argue that the true measure of success is not the number of arrests made, but whether ordinary people feel safe enough to resume everyday life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can children go to school?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can traders travel to the market?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can farmers cultivate their land?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can families sleep in their own homes?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By those measures, the return of thousands of residents to Fegin Kanawa may be one of the clearest indicators yet of progress.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rescue of three kidnap victims and the return of 5,000 displaced residents may seem like unrelated events. In reality, they are chapters of the same story.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One operation denied bandits new captives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other denied them abandoned territory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6914 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-13-at-7.45.31-PM-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1016\" height=\"762\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-13-at-7.45.31-PM-1.jpeg 1016w, https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-13-at-7.45.31-PM-1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-13-at-7.45.31-PM-1-768x576.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1016px) 100vw, 1016px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Together, they reveal a security strategy focused not only on pursuing criminals but also on shrinking the spaces in which fear thrives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Challenges undoubtedly remain. Zamfara continues to face serious security threats, and no single operation can erase years of violence overnight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet in places where roads were once empty and villages deserted, small victories carry outsized meaning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For years, many communities measured the advance of banditry by the number of people forced to leave.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, in parts of Zamfara, another metric is emerging.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not how many people fled.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But how many have found their way back?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And perhaps that is the most powerful sign of all that the tide may be beginning to turn.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On a dusty road between Gurusu and Anka, three travellers disappeared into the forest at gunpoint. For many residents of Zamfara State, such incidents have become grimly familiar. A blocked highway, armed men emerging from the bush, and another family left waiting for news. In parts of north-west Nigeria, bandits have long dictated movement, commerce [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[114,116,115,58],"class_list":["post-6908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-banditry","tag-commissioner-of-police-ahmed-mohammed-bello","tag-igp-olatunji-disu","tag-zamfara"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>From Fear to Footsteps: How Zamfara&#039;s Police Are Reclaiming Ground from Bandits - Security Focus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/06\/13\/from-fear-to-footsteps-how-zamfaras-police-are-reclaiming-ground-from-bandits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Fear to Footsteps: How Zamfara&#039;s Police Are Reclaiming Ground from Bandits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On a dusty road between Gurusu and Anka, three travellers disappeared into the forest at gunpoint. For many residents of Zamfara State, such incidents have become grimly familiar. A blocked highway, armed men emerging from the bush, and another family left waiting for news. 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