A series of night raids by Fulani Ethnic Militia left multiple children in captivity and two men critically injured, with security analysts warning that similar attacks are now appearing in Benue, Plateau, Taraba and Nasarawa.
By Mike Odeh James and Olikita Ekani
(Kajuru and Makurdi) — For some Christian farmers in the hard-scrabble Savannah plots south of Kaduna City, the first of September will hurt to remember.
Kidnappings of hapless Christian residents by radicalized kidnapping gangs has risen 33 percent over last year, according to Nigeria-based SB Morgen Intelligence. The money from ransoms keeps the gangs swooping into unprotected forest farms. TruthNigeria investigations estimate that Fulani Ethnic Militia take in $1.4 million annually from Southern Kaduna State.
Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) seized six people from a Kaduna farming village on September 1, flogging one mother and abandoning her in the bush.
Rahila Bibi, 48, farms at Angwan Tsapta, a settlement outside Mararaban Kajuru in Kajuru County of Kaduna State. FEM members came to her house looking for her husband.
“On the first of September, 2026, about 10 Fulani Ethnic Militia invaded our house, knocked down the windows, scaled into the house, took me and my children hostage for 30 minutes as they ransacked our house looking for my husband, Elisha Bibi, and stealing what they could lay their hands on,” Bibi told TruthNigeria.
Her husband was not home. The family spent the half-hour on the floor of their compound.
“They pointed guns on my head and my daughters as we sat down on bare ground while they ransacked our rooms,” she said.
The FEM members then marched Bibi and her three daughters, aged 11, nine and four, into the bush.
“They dragged me for about five miles, and when they saw that I could not walk, they took my hands, flogged me and left me at the mercy of the night. They, however, went away with my daughters,” she said.
Bibi survived the night. One daughter was later released and returned home. Her other two daughters remain in captivity.
Another household was attacked the same day. Daniel Ishaku had traveled to Kafanchan when he learned that his house had been invaded.
“They took my wife, my four children, one boy and three girls. However, the last born, who is about six years, was released when they got to the forest,” Ishaku told TruthNigeria.
In total, six people from the two families remain in captivity: Bibi’s two daughters and Ishaku’s wife and three children.
65-Year-Old Left for Dead
Anthony Bulus, 65, was ordered out of his apartment in the same sweep but refused to go.
When TruthNigeria saw him, his head was bandaged, his upper lip was stitched, and wounds around his eyes and scalp had also been stitched.
“Knowing what awaits me — torture, starvation and death — at Rijana forest if I was taken, I refused to go along with them,” Bulus said, describing 10 FEM members, nine carrying AK-47 rifles, forcing their way inside.
“They dragged me, but I am almost seven feet tall, so it was difficult for them to drag me. So one of them used his knife to slash my face across my mouth, and the other one used the butt of his gun and knocked off one of my teeth,” he said.
They continued beating and cutting him until he collapsed, then left him in a pool of blood.
Tsapta Kidnappings Signify an Unending Saga
The Tsapta attack fits a rhythm residents of Kajuru have lived with for years.
“Between June and August 2026, at least 13 people were killed and 28 abducted in Kajuru and Kachia counties of Kaduna State,” said Ado Alipiri, head of the internally displaced persons body established by Kajuru County for people uprooted by FEM.
“In June, [FEM] struck Mafofadiya, Zagom Mazuga, Kallah, Kufana and Kasuwar Magani, killing five and seizing 11,” Alipiri said.
“July was worse: 17 were taken from Hanya Maro, Ungwan Busa and Banono Angwaku, while eight captives from Ariko and Awon — including a newborn — died after three months in the bush,” he said.
Attacks have been documented by multiple media reports here, here and here.
Alipiri said August passed without an abduction reported in either county. The quiet ended on September 1, when FEM reached Angwan Tsapta.
Violence Beyond Kaduna
Security consultant Adakole Adam of Adakson Security Consultancy in Takum said the pattern extends beyond Kaduna.
“If you look at Benue, two major attacks killed dozens in Otukpo Nobi and Akpachi, then Efeyi. Subsequently, the same Fulani Ethnic Militia have started kidnapping in Benue. They are doing that in Plateau and Taraba as well,” Adam told TruthNigeria.
Adam said FEM activities seen in Kaduna are being replicated in Benue, Plateau, Taraba and Nasarawa.
“It is obvious the Federal Government and state governments of the affected states are unable or unwilling to stop these killings,” he said.
Across the affected states, the pattern involves raids on isolated farming communities, abductions into forest corridors and ransom demands that can force families to sell land, livestock and harvests.
Why Washington Should Be Watching Kajuru
The violence in Kajuru has implications beyond Nigeria’s borders because the United States has increased its attention to Nigeria’s security and religious-freedom record.
Scott Morgan, a Washington-based security analyst, told TruthNigeria in July that although U.S.-Nigeria security cooperation has grown closer, the violence has not decreased.
Nigeria was re-designated a Country of Particular Concern in October 2025. Lawmakers have also introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom and Accountability Act of 2026, which would mandate the designation, impose targeted sanctions on Nigerians found responsible and route U.S. humanitarian aid through faith-based organizations.
Tsapta offers a test of whether such international pressure reaches vulnerable farming communities.
For Bibi, it has not.
Two of her daughters remain in the forest.
Mike Odeh James and Olikita Ekani are conflict reporters and they write for TruthNigeria.
