His rejection of the amnesty underscores the complexity of engaging with Nigeria’s criminal gangs, setting back efforts to end attacks and kidnappings plaguing the country’s northwest. Northwest and central Nigeria have been terrorised for years by heavily armed criminal gangs who raid villages, stealing cattle, kidnapping for ransom and burning homes after looting supplies. The bandits are known to hide in camps in Rugu forest which straddles Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, and Niger states. According to sources with knowledge on activities of bandits, Daudawa never surrendered all his weapons and maintained contact with his gangs in the forest. xSecurity analysts have warned of infiltration of criminal gangs in the region by jihadists who are waging a more than decade-long insurgency in the northeast, a claim the government admitted recently.

Source: The Guardian April 30, 2021 09:56 UTC