- Bandits invaded Maga community at night, killing the Vice Principal and abducting 25 schoolgirls.
- Families say early warnings about strange movements were ignored by security operatives.
- Survivors describe a deadly attack that left households grieving and searching for missing children.
- Community leaders call for stronger security and urgent rescue operations for the abducted girls.
Amina Hassan Makuku remembers the night her world collapsed. The 35-year-old mother of four was breastfeeding her baby when she heard movements outside. Thinking goats had wandered into their garden, she told her husband, unaware that heavily armed bandits had already surrounded their home.
Within minutes, three armed men forced their way inside and asked her husband, “Are you Malam Hassan?” When he confirmed his identity, they told him they had come to kill him. He pleaded, then rose to his feet reciting “Allahu Akbar” before they shot him dead in front of her.
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Amina collapsed as her husband fell at her feet. The bandits ordered her to follow them, but she refused, telling them they would have to kill her too. They instead turned to her daughter and forced her to lead them to the school hostel.
Her 15-year-old daughter, Khadija, who witnessed the killing, said the attackers also demanded money. She told them the family was poor. They then marched her to Aliero House hostel. When the security guard opened the gate, they shot him and seized his phone. As the men raided the hostel and began rounding up girls, Khadija escaped during the confusion and ran into the night.
But many other families were not as fortunate.
Aisha Sani, mother of eight, said two of her daughters were among those taken. She had dismissed troubling dreams she had been seeing for weeks, never imagining they were warnings of an impending tragedy.
Another parent, 52-year-old Abdulkarim Abdullahi, also lost two daughters to the abduction, 13-year-old Ummukhalsum and 12-year-old Gawau, both JSS2 students. His household suffered double tragedy: the bandits also killed his father-in-law, the school’s security guard. His wife has been unable to eat since that night.
Residents insist the attack could have been prevented. Community member Danjuma Umar said suspicious movements were reported to security operatives days before the incident, but nothing was done.
A security source, however, said the bandits used deception by first creating a diversion in another area to mislead operatives before heading to Maga.
Since the attack, surrounding schools have shut down, parents remain fearful, and the entire community has been thrown into panic. Some parents fainted when they heard their daughters had been taken.
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Community leaders say military and vigilante teams are combing the forests, but there are no results yet. Locals believe the abductors may be moving the girls across the Zamfara–Kebbi border, with some sightings reportedly made along the Marina River corridor.
The elder brother of the slain Vice Principal, Muhammad Yakubu Makuku, described the death as a painful blow to their family. He appealed to the Federal Government to support the family, including providing education for the nine children left behind.
The people of Maga now keep vigil every night, hoping for news and praying for the safe return of their daughters.
