The dark Monday of 24 November 2025 began like any other for Kabiru Usman and his friends in the Biresawa community, Tsanyawa Local Government Area of Kano State. Around 10:00 p.m., weary from a long day at the market, they were unwinding at home when Mr Usman’s phone rang.
The voice on the other end delivered a terrifying message: bandits were invading Biresawa.
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The warning came too late. Even as Mr Usman hung up, shadows outside materialised into figures of dread. Assailants dressed in black coats and wielding guns illuminated the scene with powerful, flashing torchlights, hunting for victims to kill or abduct for ransom.
“Not long after the phone call, we heard the sound of footsteps coming from the dark. My friend flashed a torchlight in the direction of the movement, and we saw people wearing black, thick coats with guns. They flashed us with a more powerful torchlight that outshone my friend’s; we already saw them with guns, and we took to our heels,” Mr Usman recounted to PREMIUM TIMES three weeks after the devastating attack.
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Mr Usman managed to escape the immediate danger. But the night’s horror was only beginning. The attackers quickly found easy prey in the form of his wife and daughter, who were left behind.
“They entered my house and took my wife, my daughter, and three women from the neighbourhood,” he recalled, adding that they ransacked houses in the village and stole money and other valuables from the community.
After the night raid, the criminals vanished back into the cool night, leaving the community paralysed by fear.
A community in exodus
Three weeks after the attack, the toll on Biresawa is heartbreakingly evident. When PREMIUM TIMES visited the area, the community was virtually deserted, with several residents displaced to Tsanyawa, the local government headquarters.
Fear has forced a mass exodus. Those few residents who remain are living in a state of fear and anguish, their homes now places of danger.
“We don’t sleep in our homes; once it is evening, people flee. We are forced to stay outside homes, others sleep in the bush where they believe it is safe,” Mr Usman explained.
The village’s geographical location, which used to be a source of pride for community members, has become a weakness in its defence. Their vulnerability stems from the village’s proximity to neighbouring Katsina State.
“It’s just five minutes away from the next community in Katsina, and once bandits cross the border, they have escaped because even the security agents have a limit. Once they cross to Katsina, nobody will dare to follow them,” Mr Usman said.
One week after the attack, the bandits made contact with a resident, demanding ransom. The demand, however, was impossible to meet, according to a local who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES.
The farming season, the lifeblood of the community, has been ruined by fear. Even before the bandits’ invasion, the pervasive threat of abduction in the area forced residents to abandon their farmland. Those who took the risk of planting have not been able to harvest, fearing the bandits’ presence.
“We are just living in fear without knowing what to do to save our loved ones from the hands of the criminals; we don’t have anything to sell that is worth their ransom demand,” Mr Usman said.
Escalating attacks across border communities
Muhammed Shamsuddeen, the district head of Yan Chibi, a region that includes Mr Usman’s village, said the invaders are now escalating their atrocities, focusing on stealing livestock and kidnapping residents.
He narrated the timeline of the attacks with an initial rustling of 35 livestock, while commending the timely intervention of security forces, which led to the recovery of 18 of the stolen animals.
In a subsequent incident, the invaders burgled shops and stole goods, including mobile phones. The most devastating incident occurred in Biresawa. The criminals abducted married women, a young lady (Mr Usman’s wife and daughter) and children.
As of 24 December, the traditional leader said 10 people from Biresawa were under captivity.
Mr Shamsuddeen recalled that residents had to pay huge ransoms in 2022 to secure the release of loved ones. The frequency of the latest attacks is now alarmingly tied to the truce arrangements entered into by criminals in the neighbouring communities in Katsina State.
He said criminals are simply shifting their operations across borders, placing an immense and unfair burden on the residents of the Tsanyawa local council area.
The village head said his area is just a 10-minute drive to Rimaye in Kankia LGA, Katsina State, and the border has become a border for fear and violence.
The cruel ransom game
Sunusi Abubakar, the traditional head of Yan Kamaye, recounted the spiral of tragedy that had engulfed his domain. According to Mr Abubakar, the trouble started in Tsanyawa just nine days after communities in Kankia LGA had brokered a truce with armed bandits.
Later, armed groups crossed over to his domain and kidnapped nine people at Masaurari village. A few days after the abduction, the demand was a hefty N5 million ransom for the captives’ release.
The desperate locals quickly provided the full amount. However, in a cruel twist, Mr Abubakar said the bandits released only two people, offering no reason for their decision to hold onto the remaining seven captives.
The second attack occurred five days after the Masaurari incident. The bandits launched a direct assault on the village of Yan Kamaye itself, where Mr Abubakar’s palace is located. Five people were kidnapped; tragically, an elderly woman was killed.
One of the captives, the elderly woman’s son, later managed to escape. It was then that he discovered the horrifying truth: his mother had been shot dead by the attackers. Following the ordeal, he remained hospitalised and traumatised when PREMIUM TIMES visited the community.
‘We smile in the daytime and cry in the night’
Mr Abubakar said the residents are living in fear, driving a terrifying change in the community’s way of life.
“Once it’s Magrib (sunset prayer), people will run helter-skelter to leave the community in search of a safe place to pass the night with their families. This is the situation we found ourselves in. We smile in the daytime and cry in the night because of fear of the unknown,” Mr Abubakar said.
The traditional ruler told PREMIUM TIMES that in his district, which consists of about nine villages, one person was killed, sixteen others were abducted in the new wave of attacks, and two people were released.
Timeline of attacks
On 2 November, a major abduction was foiled following intelligence of an imminent attack in Shanono LGA, and a joint operation intercepted the bandits.
A battle ensued around Ungwan Tudu, resulting in the killing of 19 armed bandits, but the success came at a cost, with two soldiers and one vigilante member killed while defending the communities.
Seven days later, on 9 November, bandits returned to attack the Faruruwa community in the Shanono LGA. The raid focused on vulnerability, resulting in the kidnapping of four nursing mothers who were violently separated from their neighbourhoods.
Then, in a coordinated night raid across Tsanyawa on 24 November, bandits seized at least eight people from their neighbourhoods, Biresawa, Tsundu, Sarmawa, Yan Chibi, and Gano.
On 1 December, a late-night attack on Unguwar Tsamiya (in Faruruwa village) and the neighbouring Dabawa community in Shanono LGA resulted in the abduction of at least 25 people.
This mass abduction occurred less than 24 hours after a separate incident in Tsanyawa LGA, where the bandits abducted about 16 residents in the Yan Kamaye district of Tsanyawa LGA, killing an elderly woman.
Similarly, bandits launched at least four attacks in December, targeting the Lakwaya district in Gwarzo Local Government. This series of violent incidents resulted in one death and the abduction of several others.
This timeline of attacks, gathered from media reports and interviews with locals, shows a pattern of coordinated raids in Kano North, primarily occurring in Shanono, Tsanyawa, and Gwarzo Local Government Areas.
A fragile calm
Yahaya Bagobiri, a community leader in the Shanono Local Government Area, told PREMIUM TIMES that 15 abductees have been released following the payment of a N900,000 ransom per person.
While Mr Bagobiri noted that all captives have now been freed and no new abductions have been reported in the last five weeks (as of 21 December), he said a sense of unease persists among residents.
“The joint security task force is taking the necessary precautions; they have secured the border and are maintaining a constant presence, day and night. However, the fear of the unknown remains, despite the visible security cordons along the border lines,” Mr Bagobiri stated.
The community leader also attributed the recent period of stability to the collapse of controversial peace dialogues previously brokered in the neighbouring Matazu and Kankia LGAs of Katsina State.
Mr Bagobiri said the unofficial peace agreements in Katsina inadvertently endangered remote communities in northern Kano.
“Part of the agreement required Katsina communities to allow bandits passage through their localities in exchange for non-aggression,” he explained.
He said the security deployment along the border has contributed to the recent stability.
“The deployment of security operatives now stationed at the border is currently credited with the cessation of attacks and the influx of bandits into Kano. While the immediate threat has been mitigated by the task force, the community remains on high alert,” the community leader added.
The bandits target remote and vulnerable farming communities and villages in Kano, which are often sparsely policed and lack security infrastructure.
The veneer of Kano as one of the safer states in the North-west has been broken in recent months with the spillover of banditry from neighbouring Katsina State.
The urban threat: ‘Yan Daba and gang violence
While rural Kano faces organised banditry from neighbouring states, the city centres are grappling with a distinct but equally terrifying surge in gang violence and predatory crime.
A prevalent security threat in Kano City stemmed from groups known as the ‘Yan Daba or ‘Yan Ta’adda.’
Traditionally rooted in local hunting rivalries and political thuggery, these gangs have evolved into sophisticated criminal networks.
The ‘Yan Daba are frequently mobilised by politicians during election cycles to serve as enforcers or intimidators. Once the elections conclude, these young men, often unemployed and struggling with drug abuse, turn to violent crime to sustain their livelihoods. On the other hand, ‘Yan Ta’adda are gangsters that operate mostly on their own under the command of a leader.
Like rural bandits, these gangs operate in large numbers, even in broad daylight. They frequently brandish machetes, daggers, and clubs.
Currently, Kano is flooded with locally manufactured small arms and sharp weapons that are difficult for authorities to track or regulate.
This easy access to weaponry emboldens gangs to barricade streets and disrupt markets, force traders to close shops, attack public gatherings, most notably during football matches, and engage in violent turf wars between rival neighbourhoods.
High-risk zones and the phone snatching epidemic
Prominent areas, including Dorayi, Sheka, Rijiyar Lemo, and Kurna, have become high-risk zones where residents observe self-imposed curfews to avoid confrontation between gangs.
For commuters, several transit routes are considered trouble zones after dark: BUK road, stretching from Dan-Agundi to Kofar-Fanfo; Kabuga and Rijiyar Zaki, leading toward the BUK New Site; Zoo road from Dangi Junction to the Zoological Garden; and Hotoro, specifically the Tsamiyar Boka area near the police station.
These groups are primarily responsible for a surge in phone snatching, which has transitioned from petty theft into a lethal epidemic.
Attackers often stab their victims during encounters. Criminals frequently disguise themselves as commercial tricycle operators; once a passenger enters, the driver diverts to a secluded area to rob them at knifepoint.
The violence has claimed several lives within the city. In August, Sadiq Shuaibu (Sadiq Gentle), an aide to Governor Abba Yusuf, succumbed to injuries after a gang invaded his residence near the Emir’s Palace and attacked him with machetes.
In October, gang members stormed the residence of Inuwa Sharada, a prominent vigilante known for leading anti-phone snatching operations, and killed him.
In another gruesome incident on 15 December, Ladan Zubairu was murdered while performing the call to prayer. The assailant was intercepted and beaten to death by an angry mob, and his house was later set on fire, causing tension in the neighbourhood before security officers stepped in to restore calm.
Kano police spokesperson, Haruna Kiyawa, reported that authorities recovered Mr Zubairu’s throat from the suspect’s pocket.
This brutality has triggered a wave of vigilante action.
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Outraged by perceived police inaction, residents in the neighbourhoods have taken to the streets.
Public anxiety was further heightened by the horrific killing of two co-wives in Tudun Yola. Assailants allegedly locked the women in their rooms and set the building on fire while their husbands were away.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how a mother and her six children were killed at Dorayi Charanchi Quarters within the state metropolis on 17 January. The Kano State Police Command has since arrested three suspects in connection with the killing.
In parts of the state, there are concerns regarding the movement of bandits into the city via the Kofar Ruwa motor park, which has brought tensions to a breaking point. Residents blocked routes and burned tyres on 1 December 2025, demanding a probe into suspects arrested at the park. However, the police later clarified that the suspects were not bandits, but individuals wearing locally fabricated bulletproof jackets, which had triggered the initial suspicion.
Socio-economic stability at risk
Auwalu Bala, a leader of the Kano-based Quality Assurance Assessor on Homeland Security, has warned of the deteriorating security situation in the state. He noted that the recent surge in banditry, compounded by persistent urban gang violence, poses a severe threat to Kano’s socio-economic fabric if immediate and adequate measures are not implemented.
Mr Bala told PREMIUM TIMES that the current crime rate reveals a troubling trend. He stated that Kano is shifting toward a “new dimension of criminality” previously uncommon in the state.
“The crime rate is escalating and will continue to do so because of the vast number of unattended street children roaming our cities,” Mr Bala said, adding that while banditry and cattle rustling are intensifying in the Kano North Senatorial District, the current security interventions remain insufficient to curb the spread.
Within the metropolis, gang violence and phone-snatching syndicates are on the rise, fueled by a steady stream of new initiates.
Mr Bala attributes this phenomenon to a breakdown in the social and family structure.
“In today’s Kano, many children are raised without proper parental guidance. Lacking both Qur’anic and conventional education, these youths grow up on the streets, detached from societal values. They are evolving into hardened criminals because the street is their only teacher.”
“These teenagers are increasingly visible in high-density areas, including the Bata Flyover and Sabon Gari Market, where they congregate in large numbers across the market’s 36 rows, the Railway Station, Zoo Road, Dangi Underpass, Kurna and other metropolitan hubs,” Mr Bala said.
The security expert added that the consequences of this social neglect are most evident in the state’s correctional facilities. He noted that individuals under the age of 25 now dominate the prison population. Disturbingly, this youthful demographic also makes up the majority of inmates on death row, he said.
Call for comprehensive reform.
To combat these evolving threats, Mr Bala urged the government to move beyond traditional policing and adopt modern, multi-faceted security strategies.
In addition to the newly formed Neighbourhood Watch Corps, Mr Bala said the government must recruit and deploy more forest guards to secure the porous border communities between Kano and Katsina states.
He called for the establishment of a dedicated centre to conduct “intelligence research tasks.”
The centre should be responsible for analysing future security threats, providing proactive solutions, and developing the technical capabilities needed to repair the state’s social fabric, Mr Bala said.
Government response
In response, the Kano State Government has moved to strictly enforce the Motorcycling and Related Matters (Regulations) Law of 2013, which prohibits carrying passengers on motorcycles within the metropolis.
The State’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Abdulkarim Maude, SAN, announced that the enforcement targets eight metropolitan Local Government Areas: Kano Municipal, Gwale, Dala, Nassarawa, Tarauni, Ungogo, Fagge, and Kumbotso, including parts of Dawakin Kudu.
Mr Maude said the defaulter could be penalised with up to six months’ imprisonment, a fine of N10,000, and the forfeiture of the motorcycle to the state.
In areas where commercial motorcycling remains permitted, riders must now complete mandatory documentation with their Ward Head, the Local Government Works Department, and the Divisional Police Officer.
Aside from the legal enforcement, the state also launched personnel of the Neighbourhood Watch Corps, a state-controlled security outfit designed to tackle the escalating surge in banditry and gang-related violence.
The governor, Abba Yusuf, also commissioned a fleet of 88 Hilux patrol vehicles and 440 motorcycles for the corps to be deployed across all 44 Local Government Areas to complement the efforts of federal security agencies.
