Zamfara Council Chairman: There Will Be No Negotiations With Bandits

Peace talks cost fifty elders their freedom. Now a local government chairman is saying: never again.

A local government council chairman in Zamfara State has declared that there will be no more negotiations with bandits, following the kidnapping of approximately 50 community elders who had travelled on a peace mission to engage armed groups and were instead taken captive. The chairman’s statement, confirmed in reporting on Tuesday July 7, represents a hardened local government stance that mirrors Governor Dauda Lawal’s own recent rejection of dialogue following the same incident.

The Event That Changed the Conversation

The fifty elders had set out with genuine intentions to reduce violence in their communities through direct engagement with bandit leaders. That kind of community-led peacebuilding approach has been attempted at various points across Nigeria’s northwest with mixed results. Sometimes it has produced temporary reductions in violence. This time, the delegation itself became the target.

The abduction of community elders who went to talk peace is not just a security incident. It is a profound betrayal of the principles that allow communities to function. Furthermore, it demonstrates that at least some bandit groups operating in Zamfara have no interest in peace negotiations and view any such overture as an opportunity rather than an earnest engagement.

The Military Alternative

With dialogue explicitly ruled out by both the governor and now a council chairman, Zamfara’s leadership is placing its faith entirely in military operations to restore security. The ongoing Operation Fansan Yamma has produced results, including the recent killing of notorious bandit leader Kachalla Kallamu. However, bandit networks adapt and replace lost commanders.

The challenge for a purely military approach is sustainability. Kinetic operations can degrade bandit capacity significantly. However, without accompanying economic development, reintegration pathways for lower level fighters, and community stabilisation, the conditions that produced the banditry crisis in the first place often reassert themselves over time.

What This Means for Zamfara’s Communities

For ordinary residents of Zamfara State, the rejection of negotiations is both understandable and concerning. Understandable, because the kidnapping of peace mission elders is an outrage that deserves a firm response. Concerning, because a purely military approach, however determined, has not yet produced lasting peace in the region despite years of sustained effort.

The fifty abducted elders remain in captivity as of this report. Military operations are ongoing. And Zamfara’s local leadership has drawn a clear line. Whether that line leads to the security its communities so desperately need remains the central and unanswered question.