Mass Kidnapping Camps, Operated by Fulani Terrorist Networks, Metastasize from Kaduna’s Forests Deep into Nasarawa
By Mike Odeh James
Karu—A sprawling network of mass kidnapping camps—once hidden in the forests near Kaduna—has rapidly expanded, now reaching deep into Nasarawa State and threatening communities on the outskirts of Abuja. Since 2023, these camps have become notorious for torture, ransom, and a chilling level of organization, operating as a cross-border criminal enterprise with insurgent capabilities.
Recent investigations confirm that what began as isolated terror enclaves has metastasized into a sophisticated ecosystem, linking Kaduna, Nasarawa, and the Federal Capital Territory, and fueling Nigeria’s billion-naira kidnapping economy.
Karu County
Karu, in Nasarawa State, lies about 12 miles east of Abuja. Once a Gbagyi (Gbagyi tribe is the dominant) farming community, it’s now a bustling urban hub. They are over 70 percent Christians. Locals grow yam, maize, beans, and cassava, with some livestock and fish farming. Though Nasarawa borders Kaduna, Karu itself lies closer to Abuja.
The Fatal Flaw: How House Slippers Betrayed the Raiders
For Deborah, a farmer in Korya, Karu County, the routine calm of a February 2023 morning shattered instantly.
“I was on my farm when ten men emerged from the bush in military camouflage,” she recalled. Her initial relief—the thought that they were soldiers—dissolved when a small, telling detail betrayed their true nature. “Their slippers gave them away. Real soldiers don’t wear slippers,” she observed.
The armed men, who communicated in Fulfulde, demanded to know her husband’s whereabouts. When she hesitated, an AK-47 was leveled at her face. “He said he would shoot me if I didn’t obey,” Deborah stated.
Terrified and alone, she was forced into the thick bush toward the forbidding Nasarawa–Kaduna border.
Inside Koshi: A Fortified Garrison of Terror
Blindfolded, Deborah was marched for hours across the rugged terrain to a remote mountain stronghold she identified grimly as Koshi.
“I saw many Fulani men armed with AK-47s, and some had rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs),” she stated. Her count was chilling: “There were between 400 and 700 of them, all heavily armed.”
“Furthermore, they had over 29 hostages, most of them were Christian ladies. From what I gathered, some of them had been at Koshi for more than 3 months and they were obviously being molested. Like I said, the camp was well planned. They had sections where hostages—male and females—were kept separately. They had halls where they would flog us if we were found wanting. I did not see anyone get killed but I saw many beaten up,” Deborah said.
This account directly corroborates TruthNigeria’s earlier findings: these camps operate as militarized strongholds, complete with logistics, supply chains, communications systems, and forced-labor operations—the engine room of Nigeria’s billion-naira kidnapping economy.
The Pitch-Black Path to Freedom
For two grueling days, Deborah clung to a single prayer: “Dear Jesus, please set me free.”
Her opportunity arrived during a night transfer. Her captors, exhausted from the march, had fallen into a deep sleep. A phone rang nearby, yet none stirred. “I felt a voice telling me to act,” she said.
With immense caution, she untied the ropes binding her wrists, slipped off the blindfold, and silently melted into the pitch-black forest. After hours of stumbling through thickets, guided only by the moonlight, she found a bush path. Local villagers rescued her, guiding her back to Korya—a home she had utterly resigned herself to never seeing again.
The Village Head and the ₦20 Million Ransom
Deborah’s horror finds a dark mirror in the ordeal of Chief Simon Dogo, a respected traditional leader from Nyanya, Karu.
In February 2023, Fulani terrorists invaded his home at midnight, marching him for three relentless days deeper into the forest.
“In the camp, I saw over 100 Fulani terrorists living in small huts, all heavily armed,” Dogo disclosed to TruthNigeria. “I was held with ten other captives.”
“We were treated like dogs, called pagans, unbelievers and Christian traitors. I stayed for 3 days without water or food, and when the food came, it was leftovers of what the terrorists had eaten for over two days.”
He believes the camp was near Gidan Sule, a notorious and expanding hotspot in Nasarawa’s bandit corridor. His family was eventually forced to pay ₦20 million (about $13,000) for his life.
“The terrorists kept on mentioning Gidan Sule and so I believe we were in a forest behind Gidan Sule,” he affirmed. “Before I was freed, I heard them threatening to execute two people whose families couldn’t pay,” he added, a chilling insight into their ruthless economics.
The Insurgent Corridor: Linking Kaduna, Nasarawa, and the FCT
Karu youth leader, Samuel Jatau, maps the extent of the infiltration, confirming that Fulani terrorists have long maintained enclaves within Karu’s forests that function as a continuous corridor, linking directly to Kaduna State and stretching menacingly toward the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
“Karu’s forest connects to Kaduna and encompasses Abuja,” Jatau explained. “From reports of men and women kidnapped here, there are about four major camps in Karu’s mountains. The terrorists move between Bwari, Karu, and Zuma Rock.”
The toll is significant: “Between 2023 and 2025, we recorded over nine cases of Karu indigenes being abducted.” He vowed to provide TruthNigeria with further evidence of these entrenched camps.
Confirmed: Drone Strikes and the Return of the Militia
Barrister Franc Utoo, a native of Yelewata now residing in the U.S., provided crucial confirmation of the military-style camp operated by the Fulani Ethnic Militia near Gidan Sule.
“It’s from that camp that terrorists launch attacks into Benue,” Utoo specified. Utoo, a former aide to ex-Governor Samuel Ortom, revealed that the Ortom administration had previously conducted drone strikes on the camp after surveillance verified its existence.
“The strikes scattered them for a while,” he conceded, “but they are back,” lending weight to Chief Dogo’s recent account.
The Expanding Shadow War
In recent months, the Nigerian Police and local vigilantes in Nasarawa have intensified efforts against the kidnappers. However, officials conspicuously avoid labeling the perpetrators as “Fulani terrorists,” preferring the sanitized official term: “bandits.”
Mike Odeh James is a Conflict Reporter. He writes for TruthNigeria.
