 I’d wondered what the sudden kidnapping bandits was all about, so I asked the internet. It yielded a Daily Trust report from last December and a slightly hysterical piece published in The Herald in 2019, the author of which could use a strong dose of smelling salts. I’ve given only key bits of the Herald piece, as the torrent of adjectives coupled with blithe insouciance with regard to verb conjugation grates. [DailyTrust] Following the abductions of hundreds of Katsina schoolboys on Friday by bandidos in Kankara Local Government, attention has turned to Rugu Forest, an expanse of woods, hills and caves where bandidos terrorising the northwest have found a safe haven. Our sources tell us the nature of the forest and reveal, for the first time, the name of one of the bandit kings who have carved an empire in the wilderness of Katsina.
The dreaded Rugu Forest that serves as hideout for bandidos terrorising, Katsina, Zamfara and Kaduna states is estimated to span over 220km, stretching from the Niger Republic and spreading into a substantial part of Katsina State of Nigeria.
In Katsina, the forest cuts across the seven local governments of Jibia, Safana, Batsari, Danmusa, Sabuwa, Dandume, Faskari. In each of the place it passes, it is called by a different name but generally, it is called Rugu, after a community in Safana LGA.
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An elderly man who knows the terrain very well told our news hound that the forest has been partitioned by bandidos who control different segments.
"The forest has six ranges, four of which are in our domain. The forest boasts of several water outlets and streams. There are 18 dams that were established since the late Sardauna’s time," he said.
"Our side of the forest is controlled by one Ado Sarki. He rules like a ’god’ and just recently married a 14th wife," he said.
The said Sarki lives on a hill from where he governs his empire of wilderness and directs his boys as he pleases. Recently, he released some kidnapped persons who had stayed with him for two months.
"The Dutsen Rugu is a rocky hill that when you climb it, you can spot its peer, Dutsen Kwatarkwashi, in far away Gusau, Zamfara State. That is where he camped kidnapped persons," the source said.
One abductee, Alhaji Abu Jakarare, who recently regained freedom after ransom was paid, said he left behind up to 100 people in different holding areas on the hill.
"They have guns, different types. Every day, they slaughter about seven cows for their upkeep, he told us. They have disturbed us for long. From here to Zamfara, we are all victims of his activities," he said.
"There are different camps, with different leaderships each controlling areas of jurisdiction that they shared among themselves. They sometimes fight among themselves as well," he added
On the possibility of such significant numbers of people being kidnapped and kept therein, the source said, "The forest has several hills and caves and several water outlets and they farm and do everything like normal human beings."
"The thing is that they share kidnapped people among themselves, they don’t keep them in one place. Many hideouts, places along water routes, they have settlements all there," he said.
"The time they took 20 of our people, they kept them there for over 80 days. They told us they lived along River Zobe water outlets, Zurmi water also. These are places they stay along streams in the forest and the hills. I assure you, even if you strike at this Rugu Hill, there are people there waiting to be released being kept there," he said.
"But we cannot categorically say if the children have been taken there now or not but if you check, definitely others will be there. The authorities should use technology and everything on the ground to visit such places and return our people," he said.
Another hunter said in the past six years that he had frequented the forest around Kankara LGA, he had found it to be a deep, dry forest with rocky hills and caves that serve as hideouts.
Another source from Dinya village in Danmusa LGA, which borders the forest, said it is not such a thick forest like those in the eastern part of the country.
"There are many shrubs and thorns alongside some tall trees that they usually dig underneath them to create rooms that they stick people in," he said.
With reports that hundreds of students from GSSS Kankara have been taken into the forest by bandidos, it is not clear what strategy the government will use to get them back.
But unlike the Chibok abductions by Boko Haram
 ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
, the bandidos in Rugu Forest are motivated by their need for ransom money. They have made demands already. The ball is now firmly in the government’s court.
Zamfara State is primarily an agrarian state, hence the state slogan ’Farming Is Our Pride’. The once flourishing agricultural rural communities had been turned to ’Killing Fields, Ransom-bug and Cattle Rustling’ territory. If escaped being killed and annihilated by the maddening bandidos, you are at the mercy of being trapped and held captive, where ’ransom’ are demanded and negotiated.
It all started in 2011 in Lingyado Village of Dansadau District, Zurmi Local Government Area, the ugly characteristics has ’metamorphosed’ into a monster to three maddening acts; Killing, ransom, & cattle rustling. The maddening acts are pronounced in 9 Local Government Areas, namely; Anka, Bukkuyum, Maradun, Maru, Birnin Magaji, Tsafe, Shinkafi, and Zurmi. And lately in Kaura Namoda Local Government Area.
It is estimated that Zamafara State ’Killing Fields, Cattle Rustling and Ransom-ware’ has claimed 3,000 lives, 2,000 homes destroyed, 50 cars burnt and 510 people kidnapped for ransom. The bandidos who sources confirmed to be Fulani
 ... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity...
’s always made their ways to Zamfara State through the ’dreaded’ 220 kilometers Rugu Forest which cut across Niger Republic to substantial part of Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara Sates, North West, Nigeria. According to the victims; a knock at your door is a sign of journey to hell’ in sharp contrast to Charles Lamb, the famous English essayists, "the most interesting knock in the world is the gentle knock at the door."
Zamfara State government has spent over N17 billion in the past seven years fighting the bandidos. Zamfara State has continued to witness unfiltered and unhindered access to the communities by bandidos and turned the once green fields to; killing, ransom-bug and cattle rustling fields. In Katsina State which has eight Local Government Areas, namely; Jibia, Safana, Batsari, Danmusa, Sabuwa, Dandume and Faskari are firmly under ’The Invincible Rugu Forest Daemons’
Nigerian Army. Nigerian Air-force, Counter Terrorism Unit [CTU], Police Mobile Force, Nigerian Police, Civilian Joint Task Force [CJTF] & Local Vigilantes deployed to tackle the bandidos has all failed to nip the ugly and unending insipid scenario in the bud! Despite the Nigerian military Operation Sharan Daji’ and ’Operation Puff Adder’ ’The Invincible Rugu Forests Daemons’ remains foolhardy and has been conquering, killing, demanding ransom and keep rustling cattle’s! In a surprise statement issued on his behalf by Tukur Gusua, Mansu Dan-Alli, Nigeria’s Minister of Defence has accused some highly placed traditional rulers in the North Western part of Nigeria of supplying information and intelligence gathering for ’The Invincible Rugu Forest Daemons’
Despite ceaseless Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM! ...
s from Nigerian Airforce jets on the bandidos hideouts and positions. ’The Invincible Rugu Forest Daemons’ re-appear and become more deadlier and brutish. In exchange of ransom, military exchanges prisoners, like the case of Kano State famous Islamic holy man and President Muhammadu Buahri’s Prayer Warriors, Sheik Ahmed Suleiman that was kidnapped at Kakumi, before Kankara in Katsina State highway on March 14, 2019 and spent over ten days in the hands of the kidnappers, but was released by the ’The Invincible Rugu Forest Daemons’ in exchange for the captured of one the bandidos leader’s mother.
What could make military engaged in exchanging the Islamic holy man with the kidnappers leaders mother seem worrisome, yet still remain a game changer! The bandidos has also left trails of tears, destruction’s and annihilation to Kajuru, Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State, and also; Sokoto and Katsina States. The ease at which these bandidos operated at their frequency and bar still raises more questions and posers. 
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