Mineral Resources, Grazing Routes And The Complex Kajuru Security Nightmare That Seems Unending
The Oasis Reporters
February 1, 2026
Since 2017, former Kaduna State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice who drafted the legal documents granting Chiefdoms to Southern Kaduna communities under Governor Ahmed Makarfi, Barrister Mark Jacobs has been consistent on his assertion that several villages in Southern Kaduna were still being occupied by Fulani invaders, commonly called bandits and the villagers dislodged under intense armed attacks.
He spoke on Channels TV in February 2017 on the popular program, Sunrise Daily. He was discussing the killings in Southern Kaduna which he had earlier termed a genocide on December 13, 2016.
One of the displaced Communities he mentioned back then was Kajuru.
Kajuru local government was recently in the news for a daring attack on some churches with some worshippers killed, over a hundred kidnapped and taken into the forests by the so called Fulani bandits which has made headline news and even news organizations like the BBC sent their correspondents there on a fact finding reporting mission.
We called Barrister Mark up last month, January 2026 if the communities he initially mentioned including the ones in Kajuru local government area were still under occupation.
According to him, some had been abandoned by the invaders, but many more were still under occupation.
Not only did we dig into our archives, but did a fact finding investigative mission in Kajuru land.
First, let’s give a little background information on Kajuru local government. It happens to be one of the most fertile areas in Southern Kaduna. Whatever crop is planted there, yields bumper harvests.
Because it is very fertile and lush green, under the first Premier of the Northern Region, a grazing route was carved out for Fulani Muslim herdsmen in the area. The Kajuru people are predominantly Christians and speak their own indigenous languages and dialects as it is all over Southern Kaduna.
One often hidden fact about the security problems in Kajuru land is that the number of villages still under the occupation of Fulani bandits is that many of them are within the vicinity of the grazing route that the Fulani claim is their territory.
But what is the actual state and economic value of the Fulani cows which are said to be over 30 million in Nigeria ?
While the South African cow produces five litres of milk per day, the Fulani cow does one litre.
In the Netherlands that maintains only five million cows while producing milk that is processed and sold all over the world, yet Nigeria remains a net importer of milk. Liquid or powdered milk is a multibillion dollar industry world wide, and the Nigerian economy doesn’t seem to have any records of benefitting from it.
Still, it is believed that the Fulani herdsmen and their militia may have become a cover for the mining of minerals and precious metals for foreign companies who may be the ones dropping supplies to the foot soldiers on ground. Therefore, villages near the grazing routes are being cleansed to make the operations unseen by outsiders. Helicopters have been seen dropping supplies in some of the villages for the occupiers.
Here is a list of the villages under occupation, issued from the community.
About 178, 400 villagers all over Kajuru land have been displaced. These are from villages mainly near the grazing route.
In Iri community, the following villages have been occupied, and the villages with the citizens, dislodged and driven out under intense rifle fire, while some have been eliminated: Ungwan Pada, Makoro Zankarya, Ungwan Madaki, Ungwan Dutse.
In Maro community, the dislodged villages are :
Ungwan Barde, Sabon Gida, Karamai, Gidan Gajere.
In Kutura community is:
Kutara Station
In Ungwan Aku community is Ungwan Aku.
In Libere are Ungwan Dogo, Ungwan Amos, Ungwan Tabarki, Ungwan Shehu.
In Ungwan Gamo community are:
Ungwan Barde 1, Ungwan Barde 2, Gwando 1, Gwando 2, Maikori, Dogon Noma, Abante.
In Aguba community are :
Kujeni Gari, Kujeni Dutse, Kikwari 1, Kikwari 2.
In Doka community are : Ungwan Tudu, Ungwan Rana, Idanu, Dogon Ruwa, Agwalla Magayaki.
In Kallah community, the displaced villages are:
Idazau, Magunguna, Dutse Gora, Ungwan Guzah, Pushy, Etissi, Evatur, Atigiri, Idarako, Bakin Kogi, Ungwan Samaila.
