A man who escaped from kidnappers in Niger State, Aliyu Alaramma, has narrated his ordeal in the forest amid a turf war between armed bandits and the Lakurawa terrorist group.
Mr Alaramma, a resident of Kawon Kontagora, a village in the Kontagora Local Government Area of Niger State, was abducted alongside his elder brother on their farm recently.
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He escaped five days after his kidnap.
Speaking in an interview with Gaskiya News Hausa, monitored by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Alaramma recounted the severe torture he and other captives endured.
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He narrated how he tried to escape into the volatile Kulho forest in the Mashegu Local Government Area.
Kulho is a remote, densely forested region near the Kainji Forest Reserve and Zugurma, where several armed groups have camps.
“I ran and hid in the thick grass, crawling through it to stay out of sight,” Mr Alaramma recalled his escape.
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“At one point, I managed to hit one of the bandits with a stone. I kept moving, but as I ran, I struck another one of them. He immediately called his accomplices on his mobile phone, and they all rushed toward my location on motorcycles.
“When they arrived, one of them drew his sword and ordered me to lie down. I refused,” he said.
“He lunged at me with a sword. I struck the hand holding the weapon, but he still managed to slash me. I don’t remember exactly what happened after that. When I regained consciousness, I was covered in blood near a stream in their forest den, having suffered a gunshot wound to the head.”
Mr Alaramma said the kidnappers initially demanded a N100 million ransom for his release.
“They told me if I didn’t pay, I would never be released,” Mr Alaramma stated. “I told them I had never even seen N100 million in my entire life.”
“The captors repeatedly beat us and moved us deeper into the forest,” he stated.
After the bandits confiscated Mr Alaramma’s phone and discovered photos of military personnel, they accused him of being an undercover soldier.
“We were blindfolded and starved for hours and days without food and water.”
He said the kidnappers later reduced their demand to N10 million, threatening that failure to comply would result in the victims being transferred directly to their boss, Mr Gide.
According to Mr Alaramma, the bandits’ camps were divided into six distinct operational groups under Mr Gide’s command.
Clash with Lakurawa
Mr Alaramma revealed that a deadly firefight broke out between Mr Gide’s men and the Lakurawa group—an extremist sect active in North-west and North-central Nigeria.
READ ALSO: Bandits kill nine farmers, abduct many in Kaduna attacks
The clash reportedly erupted after the Lakurawa group demanded Zakat (an Islamic obligatory tax) in the form of cattle from the bandits, a demand Mr Gide’s faction rejected.
Mr Alaramma said his elder brother, who understands the Fulfulde language, eavesdropped on the bandits’ conversations regarding the battle.
He said the bandits spoke about suffering heavy casualties at the hands of the Lakurawa fighters for resisting the tax collection.
“The bandits suffered major losses, which made them incredibly brutal toward us,” Mr Alaramma explained.
“They took their frustrations out on the captives, paranoid that we outsiders had invited the Lakurawa group into the area to track them down.
“They also made it clear that if they identify anyone as a local vigilante, they kill them immediately.”
The Kulho forest axis is a highly volatile environment where residents, travellers, and local farmers face constant threats of violence as rival factions compete for territorial dominance.
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