For the households of the victims of the January 3 terrorist assault on Kasuwan Daji Market, the trauma could by no means fade. What started as a daily market day in Borgu Native Authorities Space, Niger State, descended right into a nightmare of screams and chaos. Survivors recount the horror of seeing their family members struck down as suspected bandits moved via the market, leaving destruction and concern of their wake. ABU NMODU stories.
Residents of Kasuwan Daji in Borgu native authorities space, Niger State, are nonetheless reeling after a brutal terrorist assault on Saturday, January 3, 2026, that claimed the lives of 30 folks. Eyewitnesses and bereaved members of the family have narrated scenes of panic, bloodshed, and determined flight, portray a grim image of concern and devastation that has gripped the neighborhood.
One can solely think about the screams and wailing that stuffed the air on the Kasuwan Daji Market as suspected bandits, believed to be working from the Kainji Nationwide Park forest close to Kabe district, moved via the stalls, opening hearth on harmless women and men, majorly breadwinners who had gone out to earn a dwelling for his or her households.
Outlets had been looted, the market set ablaze, and concern now hangs over your entire neighborhood. When LEADERSHIP Weekend visited the neighborhood, it found that many residents have fled their houses, uncertain if security will ever return regardless of repeated assurances from authorities.
The assault left a path of blood and destruction past the market itself. Within the surrounding villages, 12 extra folks had been slaughtered, and dozens had been kidnapped because the assailants rampaged unchecked. Grieving households have described scenes of the unimaginable horror, as houses had been ransacked and prized possessions destroyed, leaving survivors struggling to grasp the dimensions of the violence.
Despite the truth that native authorities and safety operatives have been referred to as upon to reply, the neighborhood stays on edge, with whispers of extra assaults circulating among the many frightened residents. The once-bustling Kasuwan Daji Market, an important hub of commerce and social life, now stands in ruins, a stark reminder of the phobia that erupted in broad daylight.
The incident at Kasuwan Daji, positioned on the borders of Borgu and Agwara native authorities areas is only a few kilometres from Papiri, the place kids and employees of St Mary Catholic School had been kidnapped just lately introduced again harrowing reminiscences for villagers in each areas. Many recalled the emotional trauma their kids endured earlier than being launched final month.
Households of the victims who pleaded anonymity informed our reporter that the casualty of the assault, which now stands at 45 deaths, was each dastardly and merciless.
For them, past the heartbreak of dropping family members, residents are grappling with the uncertainty surrounding members of the family who had been kidnapped, in addition to the destruction of property looted and set ablaze throughout the assault.
On the mode of operation of the terrorists, Mallam Farouk Musa from Borgu informed LEADERSHIP Weekend that “they arrive from the Kainji Nationwide Park and recreation reserve forest, transfer via the Kabe Hills, assault the villagers, after which vanish into the forest, leaving the villagers to choose up the items.”
A girl popularly generally known as Madam Titi, who owns a store out there, mentioned she misplaced 4 of her kinfolk within the assault on Kasuwan Daji, forcing her and different villagers to relocate. She informed LEADERSHIP Weekend in an interview: “They killed 4 of my members of the family. We needed to abandon the village and run away. We don’t know what to do. There may be no person left in our compound now. We’re as much as 100 folks dwelling in the identical home the place we’ve got relocated to, in a neighbouring city in Kofanti. It’s safer for us.”
Madam Titi added that her village, Babelu, near Kasuwan Daji, noticed no fewer than 42 villagers killed on that fateful day. She recalled that on the market, they had been caught fully off guard, shot at randomly, and that she barely escaped the bandits’ bullets and potential abduction by rapidly going into hiding. By the point she returned, 30 our bodies had been counted lifeless out there.
“In addition they went into the villages, tied folks’s fingers, and slaughtered our folks like animals. At the least 12 of them had been killed like that,” Titi recalled.
She referred to as on the federal government to offer satisfactory safety for the world, saying, “Solely when that’s executed can we return house. For now, there’s hazard all over the place, and there’s no assure they won’t come again.”
“How do you anticipate me to be alright going again to that village once I simply buried 4 of my kinfolk, these I eat, sleep, and get up with?” she requested rhetorically, including that the dearth of safety presence, even after the Papiri assault, made it simpler for the bandits to repeatedly overrun the villages.
One other villager, Dauda Baka-Aure, mentioned he additionally misplaced 4 of his kinfolk throughout the assault on Kasuwan Daji Market, prompting him and different residents to relocate to Kofanti, a safer neighborhood.
“Now we’re on this neighbouring village, the place we sleep exterior. We deserted our village to change into beggars, sleeping within the chilly,” he informed LEADERSHIP Weekend. He added that the few rooms offered by their hosts had been reserved for the kids, whereas the adults needed to sleep exterior within the harsh climate.
Portray a equally ugly image of the assault, Dauda mentioned the bandits opened hearth on the market and went into surrounding villages, slaughtering folks “like animals.”
He referred to as on the federal government to take deliberate motion and discover a lasting answer to the repeated assaults, saying, “We’re actually traumatised.”
One other market girl, Asebe, recounted her ordeal: “I used to be in my store once I heard gunshots. I ran for my life, however by the point I returned after the bandits left, I noticed a number of the individuals who had been simply alive a second in the past mendacity in swimming pools of their blood. It was unbelievable. Individuals had been going about their typical enterprise, and the subsequent minute you noticed them like that.”
Mallam Umar Kwana mentioned none of his kinfolk had been straight killed throughout the assault, however 5 of his kids had been among the many scores kidnapped from the market. “Some folks from our space had been slaughtered by the terrorists. I’m very unhappy. 5 of my kids have been kidnapped. When the bandits got here, there was confusion all over the place, and later I couldn’t discover my kids. It’s clear they had been taken into the forest with the others kidnapped from the market,” he mentioned.
The director of Communications for the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora, Reverend Father Matthew Kabirat, confirmed the severity of the scenario, noting that
parishioners and monks are additionally relocating because of concern of additional assaults.
He added, “As I’m speaking to you, our parishioners and monks are leaving for concern of potential assaults. The safety personnel who got here after the incident can’t be discovered, and there aren’t any indicators of assist for the folks. These terrorists had a subject day, and our individuals are transferring from that axis for concern of both being killed or kidnapped.”
Reverend Kabirat mentioned the attackers
didn’t solely kill but additionally kidnapped an unknown variety of ladies and youngsters and set the market ablaze. “The hearth was so intense that the smoke could possibly be seen 15 kilometres away at Papiri,” he mentioned.
A villager, who gave his identify as Abuka, mentioned communities in Papiri, Kwana, and Tugan Salama, each in Agwara and Borgu native authorities areas had been dwelling in fixed concern. He mentioned, “Between Sunday, December 28, 2025, and Saturday, January 3, 2026, this group of bandits roamed freely with out being challenged. The Papiri college kids, who had been just lately launched from captivity, together with my daughter, have been additional traumatised, compelled to cover each time the terrorists are close by, each day and evening.”
He added, “Individuals are evacuating the world in giant numbers, abandoning their houses and property.”
The Niger State Police public relations officer, Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the assault, stating that safety forces had been on the path of the terrorists. Nonetheless, he offered no updates on the rescue of the kidnapped victims or any arrests made.
Equally, the Niger State authorities prolonged condolences to the households of the victims and guaranteed the general public that it was working to forestall additional assaults, pledging to collaborate with the federal authorities to carry the perpetrators to justice. But, for now, villagers proceed to dwell in concern, mourning their killed and kidnapped members of the family.
LEADERSHIP Weekend stories that regardless of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive for safety companies to coordinate a right away manhunt to rescue the kidnapped victims, the scenario within the affected communities stays precarious and in pressing want of consideration.
The escalating insecurity has additionally drawn the priority of the Son of the late Emir of Borgu, Murtala Haliru Dantoro, who appealed on to President Tinubu to rescue the folks of the Borgu Emirate, reminding him of his conventional title, Jagaban Borgu.
The prince mentioned the persistent killings and insecurity in Borgu and Agwara native authorities areas, which comprise the Emirate, had reached an insufferable degree, leaving residents in fixed concern. “I’m deeply troubled by the continual lack of harmless lives in our communities. Households are being torn aside, livelihoods destroyed, and our individuals are steadily dropping hope within the means of management to guard them,” he mentioned.
He urged each President Tinubu and Niger State Governor Mohammed Umar Bago to intervene urgently and supply lasting options. “Our folks should dwell with out concern, to farm their lands, and to sleep peacefully of their houses. This isn’t only a native disaster; it’s a humanitarian emergency that calls for instant and decisive motion from the very best ranges of presidency,” he added.
The accounts replicate the deep frustration and anguish of the as soon as peaceable Borgu Emirate, a area of strategic nationwide significance that hosts main investments, together with Nigeria’s foremost hydroelectric dam.
LEADERSHIP Weekend subsequently reiterate that because the smoke clears over Kasuwan Daji and surrounding villages, the grief, concern, and displacement linger, portray a stark reminder of the human value of insecurity in Niger State.
Households mourn the lack of family members, communities wrestle to rebuild, and the shadow of additional assaults hangs over each house and market.
The pressing name for decisive motion, from native authorities to the very best ranges of presidency, resounds louder than ever, for the security, dignity, and way forward for the Borgu Emirate and its folks rely upon it.
