A farmer abducted in Kaduna State’s Giwa LGA was killed in captivity by a group of allegedly “repentant” bandits, exposing deep cracks in the state’s peace and reconciliation programme while relatives claim local officials are actively suppressing public reporting of such incidents.
Repentant bandits. Dead farmer. A community told to stay quiet.
Mallam Umaru Ibrahim was working his farm in Kidandan, Giwa Local Government Area, Kaduna State, on Monday when he was abducted alongside other farmers. By Wednesday morning, his body was recovered from a bush called Sidi. His family buried him quietly.
According to SaharaReporters, the killing was carried out by a group officially classified as “repentant” bandits — armed men supposedly brought into Kaduna State’s ongoing peace and reconciliation framework.
His relative, Muhammadu Sani, wasn’t having any of it.
“We cannot keep quiet while they do nothing and we are being killed and kidnapped daily by these terrorists whom they claim have repented. Where is the repentance in all these atrocities?” Sani demanded in a message sent to SaharaReporters’ New York office.
But speaking out, Sani alleges, comes with its own dangers.
“We are being forced to stop reporting killings and kidnappings on social media by local government officials and traditional rulers,” he claimed — a chilling allegation that suggests a deliberate effort to manage the narrative around a failing peace process.
Sani also named Abba Danlami — reportedly abducted by the same group but escaped — as a key witness with full details of what transpired.
The Giwa–Birnin Gwari axis has long been a flashpoint for banditry. But this killing strikes at something deeper — the credibility of government-backed reconciliation efforts.
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