Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed said on Monday that security agencies had killed 20,000 bandits in coordinated operations across the state, after offensive raids overran camps in forest areas and forced armed groups out of their hideouts. He briefed journalists after a closed-door security meeting in Bauchi with agency heads, traditional rulers and other stakeholders.
Mohammed said troops destroyed logistics in Dajin Madam forest and that about four war planes were used to bomb bandit positions and clear several camps. He said several motorcycles used by the criminals were also destroyed, cutting their movement and limiting their ability to regroup. The governor said the operation had given security forces firm control of the forest to stop fleeing bandits from slipping back in.
The governor said the effort followed complaints from people in Bauchi that reached President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Office of the National Security Adviser, which he said responded with decisive action. He said the crackdown exposed bandit activity along forest corridors linking Bauchi with Plateau and Taraba states, where criminal groups had used remote terrain to build camps and move weapons and supplies. Mohammed said soldiers and other security agencies had completely dismantled the camps as a result of the offensive.
He also said the state government had opened a temporary surrender window for bandits operating within and around Bauchi, but made clear that it was not an amnesty. “We are calling on those still in hiding to surrender within this period. This is not amnesty, but a chance to return and reintegrate under government supervision,” Mohammed said. He said arrangements were being considered to relocate those who surrender, including their families, and added that many of the suspects were not originally from Bauchi State.
The security meeting included traditional rulers from affected communities in Alkaleri, Bauchi, Tafawa Balewa and Kirfi local government areas. Mohammed said the state would now move to biometric data capture of residents in affected communities, intelligence-led monitoring in markets, motor parks and other public spaces, and tighter verification of activities in places that could be used to hide criminals. He said the government would also strengthen community-based security systems by recruiting and supporting local vigilante groups.
Those measures, he said, are aimed at preventing ungoverned spaces from becoming safe havens for criminal elements. The state also linked recent restrictions on commercial motorcycle and tricycle operations, along with temporary closures of some cattle markets, to the same security push. Mohammed said the rules were part of broader efforts to curb rising criminal activities across Bauchi, where the government has now tied ground offensives, aerial strikes and tighter civilian controls into one campaign against the bandits.
For now, the message from Bauchi is blunt: the camps are gone, the surrender window is open, and anyone who stays in the bush risks meeting a state that has already moved from pursuit to containment.
