TALATA MAFARA, Zamfara State — The invitation came from the Director-General of President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign council, Senator Abdul’aziz Yari.
It was for a special prayer session. 2,933 Imams were expected to gather in Talata Mafara.
They were to pray for peace, and for the success of the President’s re-election bid.
Six of them never made it.
They were abducted on Saturday, September 12, 2026, about three kilometres from Damri village, at a place called Gidan Suleiman Bature in Gonar Sarkin Forest, while on their way to the prayer session.
The bandits did not ask where they were going. They did not care.
The Names of the Taken
The abducted clerics have been identified as the Imam of Dakko Juma’at Mosque, Malam Shehu; the Imam of Dogon Madacci, Liman Yahuza, and his deputy; the Imam of Fagon, Liman Bala; and the Imam of Tungar Nagodai, Na’ibi Tasi’u.
All are from Bakura Local Government Area, except the one from Anka LGA.Also taken were two other travellers and a driver identified as Abun Abu.
One of the travellers was later released on Saturday, September 12, 2026, not for humanitarian reasons, but because he was carrying N1.9 million in cash from his sales.
The bandits collected the money and told him he had “paid his ransom”.
The others are still in the forest as of Sunday, September 13, 2026.
“We Cannot Walk One Kilometre”
The abduction is not an isolated incident. Residents of Damri stated to correspondents on Sunday, September 13, 2026, that bandits have effectively taken control of the area.
They hide in farmlands and abduct anyone who ventures outside.
Several villages — Matsafa, Yar Matsafa, Gazamnah, Lambusu, Sabon Garin Damri, Kurhi, Mallamawa, Saturu and Cikayi, are, according to residents, “under the total control of bandits,” who impose levies on farmers for harvesting their produce.
“We are in a terrible situation,” one resident said. “As I speak to you, I am seated in Damri village, but no one among us can walk for a distance of one kilometre”.
As of midnight on Saturday, September 12, 2026, there was no visible security response.
No rescue operation. No show of force.
The Politics of Prayer
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The irony is difficult to ignore. The prayer session these Imams were travelling to was organised by the Director-General of the Tinubu 2027 re-election campaign council.
It was designed to seek divine intervention for the President’s political future.
Instead, six clerics were taken hostage on their way to pray for him.Zamfara has become one of the most dangerous states in Nigeria.
The state government has repeatedly claimed to be improving security.
The federal government has deployed troops and announced operations.
But in the forest between Dakko and Damri, bandits still decide who travels and who disappears.
For the families of the six Imams, the prayer session continues — not for Tinubu, but for the safe return of their fathers, their brothers, their husbands.
