The agrarian settlement of Doma A in Katsina State has effectively ceased to exist. In a brutal midday assault that shattered a fragile months-long truce, armed bandits have killed dozens and forced the entire population into a desperate exodus, leaving only silence in their wake.

This is not merely another statistic in Nigeria’s spiraling security crisis; it is the total disintegration of a community. The MaiGari of Doma, Magaji Yahaya Doma, has confirmed that the village is now empty, its granaries abandoned and its doors swinging open to the wind. The attack, which claimed between 13 and 27 lives depending on who is counting, underscores the terrifying reality that informal peace deals with terror groups are not just ineffective—they are often death traps waiting to snap shut.

A Betrayal in Broad Daylight

Unlike the nocturnal raids that typically characterise banditry in the North West, this massacre unfolded under the high sun. Witnesses report that around noon on February 3, scores of gunmen on motorcycles descended from the direction of Ruwan Godiya. They did not creep in the shadows; they rode in with impunity, turning the village’s main thoroughfares into killing fields.

“They did not go from house to house; they were shooting on the roads. Anyone they saw outside, they shot,” recounted Sama’ila Doma, a survivor who watched the carnage from the neighbouring settlement of Doma B. The operation lasted for over two hours—an eternity in a combat zone—without any intervention from state security forces. By the time the dust settled, the bandits had withdrawn, leaving families to collect the bodies of their sons and husbands from the red earth.

• The Human Cost: Among the dead was Muhammad Sagiru, a 34-year-old driver who was intercepted while ferrying relatives to a wedding. His burnt vehicle and bullet-riddled body were found in a ditch, leaving his two wives, nine children, and elderly mother destitute.
• Disputed Toll: While the police claim 13 casualties, residents insist they buried 27 people. “Whether it is 13 or 27,” Sama’ila noted with haunting clarity, “the dead are our people and don’t deserve to be killed.”

The Fragility of Peace

The tragedy is compounded by the collapse of a peace agreement brokered in September 2025. For months, Doma had enjoyed a tenuous quiet, bought with the currency of fear and compliance. Local leaders believed they had secured safety by agreeing not to carry weapons and to report grievances rather than retaliate. The attack has exposed this arrangement for what it was: a mirage.

Security analysts suggest the raid may have been a retaliatory strike for the alleged killing of a bandit in the area—a claim residents vehemently deny. Regardless of the trigger, the result is a refugee crisis. The displaced residents are now scattered across Ruwan Godiya, Guga, and Funtua, too terrified to return to a home that the state cannot protect. As the MaiGari laments, the gunmen have left, but so have the people, leaving Doma A a ghost town on the map of a bleeding nation.