KAGARKO — A horrific update has emerged from the Janjala community in Kagarko Local Government Area, where suspected Fulani gunmen have shot dead two women among the 14 victims abducted over a month ago.
The victims were part of a group seized during a midnight raid on March 1, 2026. After five weeks of harrowing captivity, the kidnappers executed the two women over the weekend, reportedly as a brutal response to the community’s inability to meet skyrocketing ransom demands.
The Failed Negotiations
The execution follows a total breakdown in talks between the captors and the families of the victims. Community sources revealed that despite the extreme poverty in the area, families had managed to deliver an initial payment of ₦500,000 along with food supplies—including bags of rice, beans, and oil—to a drop-off point in the Hayin-Dam forest.
However, the bandit leader rejected these efforts, escalating the demand to ₦1 million per head, totalling ₦14 million. Although the families sold off farm produce and livestock to raise an additional ₦3 million, the gunmen reportedly dismissed the sum and cut off communication before carrying out the executions.
A Wave of Rural Terror
The Janjala tragedy is part of a broader surge in violence across Southern Kaduna, where Fulani ethnic militias are increasingly targeting rural agrarian settlements. Just days ago, a separate attack on a wedding in Kahir village resulted in 13 deaths and nearly 30 abductions. Within the last 48 hours, a mother and her six children were also snatched from the Kurmin-Uwa settlement near Janjala.
This follows coordinated Easter Sunday raids on churches in Ariko and Kajuru that left at least 15 worshippers dead, though the Nigerian Army successfully rescued 31 others during a subsequent firefight in the Kachia axis.
Community Despair
Local residents describe a state of total siege, noting that the gunmen appear to be operating with impunity in the thick forests bordering the Federal Capital Territory. “They are picking us off while the government sends nothing but press releases,” one Janjala resident remarked. Community leaders are now making desperate appeals for a permanent military outpost in the Kagarko-Janjala corridor to protect farmers whose livelihoods are being systematically destroyed by the kidnap-for-ransom industry.
As of Monday morning, April 6, 2026, the fate of the remaining 12 hostages from Janjala remains unknown, with their families pleading for urgent intervention to prevent further executions.
