Will terrorist Halilu Sububu’s death reduce banditry in rural northern Nigeria?

Halilu Sububu, a wealthy figure with deep-rooted connections to Sahelian jihadists, was more than just a banditry kingpin in northwestern Nigeria. His reign of terror came to an abrupt end last Thursday evening after the security forces and local vigilantes killed him in a gunfight with his gang in Zamfara State. But will his death reduce rural banditry in the region?

Mr Sububu was among the earliest bandits to take up arms around 2011 to fight the alleged subjugation of the Fulani ethnic group by state actors and their agents in Zamfara. He trained other notorious terrorists, including Shehu Rekep, the infamous terror kingpin and well-connected gunrunner who had more than 1,000 men terrorising local communities in Zamfara and Sokoto States.

Mr Sububu was suspected of organising the abduction of students of Zamfara State College of Agriculture and Animal Sciences in Bakura and over 80 other people in Gora village in Maradun LGA of the state.

He also participated in the kidnapping of more than 130 students in Kuriga, Kaduna State. Another banditry kingpin, Yellow Janbros, staged the abduction, but because he was inexperienced in mass abduction, he contracted the dreaded Dogo Gide to fight the military operatives trailing his gang.

Mr Janbros also took some of the students to Mr Sububu’s camp in Bawar Daji forest in Anka LGA of Zamfara State.

Illicit wealth and connection with Sahelian terrorists

PREMIUM TIMES understands that Mr Sububu was one of the wealthiest terrorists in northern Nigeria. He was a high-profile arms smuggler and arms trainer notorious for supplying arms to other terrorists.

Mr Rekep, his deputy, had strong ties with rebel groups in Mali, Chad, and Libya, which facilitated Mr Sububu’s lucrative gunrunning business. But more recently, Mr Sububu’s arms dealings is believed to have spread to more countries, including Burkina Faso, Morocco, Algeria, Central Africa Republic and Senegal.

Apart from his successful gunrunning business, Mr Sububu and his gang also engaged in attacking military formations and local communities, where they kidnapped and rustled cattle.

Existing studies proved that bandits like Mr Sububu have ties to French-speaking jihadi groups in the Sahel, but they are too powerful and non-ideological to be co-opted into the jihadi ranks. One of those studies was co-authored by conflict researcher James Barnett, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, a former journalist with PREMIUM TIMES and Daily Trust; and Murtala Rufa’i, a history teacher at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS).

Mr Sububu also ventured into illegal gold mining, forcing residents to work in mining pits located in Bagega and other communities around Sumke forest in the Anka Local Government Area of Zamfara.

All these — cross-border arms deals, illegal mining and rural banditry — provided Mr Sububu with his illicit wealth.

In his paper ‘I am a Bandit,’ Mr Rufa’i, the history teacher at UDUS, revealed that bandits like Mr Sububu rent out weapons for between N500,000 and N1.2 million. These weapons include AK 47 and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG).

The event that led to his death

Local sources familiar with the kingpin’s movements on 13 September confirmed his death to this newspaper, saying he was killed alongside some of his fighters along the Mayanchi-Anka highway.

Yahuza Getso, a security expert studying rural banditry and its patterns in northwest Nigeria, gave a more detailed account of the incident.

“He was killed on Thursday while he returned from Fakai to see Bello Turji,” Mr Getso, who is also the Managing Director of Eagle Integrated Security and Logistics Company Ltd in Abuja, told PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday.

According to him, Mr Sububu stopped at Bayan Ruwa (Maradun – Maru axis) “where another kingpin, Saidu, was having a (child) naming ceremony.

“But it was believed Halilu was betrayed by Saidu, who informed some vigilante members that Halilu had just left his base to cross the Mayanchi road,” Mr Getso continued. “The encounter took place around Kuzawa. Saidu was afraid that Halilu would take over the few mining sites in Maru, especially around Jabaka and Kuzawa itself. So he sold him out.”

Will his death reduce rural banditry in the region?

Mr Sububu was not the first terror bigwig to be killed in a gun duel with Nigerian troops or rival groups. He joined others like Kachala Ali, Sani Dangote, Damina, Baleri and Modi-Modi, among others.

However, his death can slow down banditry in rural communities in the north. This is because he was a major arms supplier to emerging bandits ransacking villages, taking advantage of the overstretch of the military.

But experts also worry that his gang could bounce back if his key lieutenants are not taken down.

“Two notorious bandits under Halilu that were not killed that day are Shehu Rekep and Kwatte,” Mr Getso noted, adding that soldiers “need to track and kill these guys too because they will plan more attacks to seek revenge.”

The security experts also cautioned that the government needs to tighten security around Nigeria’s porous borders to check the infiltration of armed groups or herders from the Sahelian countries.

Killing Mr Sububu is a great achievement, Mr Getso observed, noting that the military should be applauded.

Mr Getso said the relocation of major military officers to the Northwest contributed to Mr Sububu’s successful elimination.

Halilu Sububu’s profile

Born Halilu Jammare, Mr Sububu was born and raised in Sububu in Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

In his first and only known interview with journalists, he addressed himself as the “leader of the terrorists operating on the northern flank.”

Some people referred to him as Halilu Buzu because his mother hailed from the Buzu ethnic group of Niger Republic.

A family friend of Mr Sububu, whom PREMIUM TIMES spoke to on the phone last October, said the terrorist was born in 1986. His father, a Fulani herder, Jammare, was born in Jajjaye, a community near Sububu. He said Mr Sububu’s mother came to Nigeria with her grandfather from the Niger Republic through Maradi in the Niger Republic.

“She should have been around 11 or 12 years old when they came to Nigeria. The community leaders in Sububu gave them land to build a house. That was where Jammare saw her and they married,” the family source told PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr Sububu’s father died 25 years ago, according to the source. The terror kingpin grew up between Sububu and Tubali in Maradun but was closer to Shinkafi.

In the climax of the military offensives about three years ago, Mr Sububu relocated to Bagega but still maintained his bases in Sububu (Zamfara) and Suruddubu (Sokoto).

“His movements were always tracked because he had two wives and his mother with him in Bagega,” Mr Getso said. “He also had an armoury in Sububu, so he always went there. His main base was in Bagega, where he controlled his mining sites. He recently opened another base in Tsafe to counter the influence of Ansaru [al-Qaeda franchise in Nigeria,” the source said.