Former Senator Shehu Sani, who represented the Kaduna Central Senatorial District from 2015 to 2019, has claimed that the Nigerian military killed a bandit leader known as Kachalla three times.

Bandits have been wreaking havoc in some Nigerian states, including, Kaduna, Zamfara and Katsina, taking travellers and students hostage and displacing villagers from their traditional settlements.

Giving a press statement on Saturday, Edward Buba, the Defence Headquarters’ director of media operations, disclosed that troops had neutralised no fewer than 39 bandits during a combined air and ground operation in Niger State on December 11.

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According to the defence spokesperson, Ali Alheri, a bandit leader known as Kachalla Kawaje was among the bandits killed during the operation.

Reacting to the news, the former senator, who has over three million followers on X, screenshot headlines of reputable legacy media outlets in Nigeria and posted them via his X account on Saturday with a caption, claiming that a single terrorist had been killed three times in three years. He further circled the dates the reports screen-grabbed were published to legitimise his claim.

CLAIM: The terrorist leader called Kachalla was killed three times: 2020, 2022 and 2023.

The terrorist leader called Kachalla was killed THREE TIMES;2020,2022 and 2023. pic.twitter.com/9YRZ17oOm7

— Senator Shehu Sani (@ShehuSani) December 17, 2023

Some of Sani’s thousands of followers have responded to the claim with mixed reactions. Some claim the military is confused, while others explain that bandits and terrorists sometimes replace their dead leaders and maintain the same name.

The tweet has been viewed by over 210,000 accounts, in addition to multiple thousands of reposts, likes and comments.

VERIFICATION: FIJ reviewed available news reports, a past statement by the military and a research work to confirm the veracity of Sani’s claim.

Here is what this newspaper found: The military has killed several terrorist leaders in the course of fighting to restore peace to the affected areas of the country. In December 2020, Samuel Aruwan, then Kaduna State commissioner for internal security and home affairs, revealed that Nasiru Kachalla, a bandit ringleader, had been killed “in a clash between his gang and a rival group of bandits.” This was one of the reports shared by Sani.

Aruwan’s statement read: Kachalla, who has been on the run for masterminding several criminal acts, including kidnappings, killings, cattle rustling and banditry, was killed in a clash between his gang and a rival group of bandits. Human intelligence networks confirmed that criminals from the rival sides were also killed, including some of Kachalla’s lieutenants. The clash occurred in a forest around the boundaries of Kajuru-Chikun local government areas of Kaduna Central Senatorial District, after a dispute over a large herd of rustled cattle, which triggered the fatal confrontation.

Kachalla and his gang were involved in several crimes, including kidnappings, killings and banditry on the Kaduna-Abuja road and also in the Chikun/Kajuru general areas. He was the mastermind of the 9th January 2020 kidnapping of seminarians of Good Shepherd Major Seminary, Kaduna, and the 24th January 2020 kidnapping of Mrs. Bola Ataga and her two children. The criminals later killed one of the seminarians, Michael Nnadi and Mrs. Ataga before releasing her children.

Kachalla’s criminal gang was also responsible for the kidnap of six students and two teachers of Engravers College, in Kakau village of Chikun local government on 3rd October 2019.

In mid-November 2022, Aruman confirmed Ibrahim Kachalla Gudu, a another terrorist leader. This was the second screenshot that Sani posted. Despite the fact that the report clearly named the dead terrorist and provided a context, the senator appeared to have deliberately ignored that part and claimed the same terrorist had been killed three times.

A part of Aruwan’s 2022 statement said: The high point of his cattle rustling spree came in the first and second quarters of 2022, in Kajuru LGA alone, Gudau and his partners rustled 1,600 and 3, 332 cattle respectively, a total of 4,932 cows stolen in the first six months of 2022.

The latest news came from the defence spokesperson yesterday. He explained that troops had killed four terrorist leaders in a string of operations. The terrorist leaders were Haro, Machika, Dan Muhammadu and Ali Alhaji Alheri, also called Kachalla Ali Kawaje, “a renowned terrorist leader responsible for the abduction of students of Federal University Gusau, Zamfara” in September 2023.

The third report screen-grabbed by Sani can be read here.

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Back in July 2020, the Defence Headquarters had mentioned that a bandit group carrying out systematic fatal attacks and displacing people in Katsina, Zamfara and Kaduna State was “Kachalla bandit group.”

In all the three reports above, three different terrorists, not the same person, have been killed by security agencies. Evidently, these bandits belonged to the same group.

Relatedly, the gallant troops while on routine patrol arrested a suspected bandit, one Ibrahim Alhassan on 7 July 20. Upon preliminary investigation, the suspect confessed to be a member of KACHALLA bandit group.

— DEFENCE HQ NIGERIA (@DefenceInfoNG) July 9, 2020

FIJ’s research further revealed that the word Kachalla is historically a titular position in the traditional military system obtainable among the Kanuri people in the north east of Nigeria, which means “unit commander.” According to a book, titled “Meaning of Kanuri Personal Names“, written by Muhammed Waziri and first published in 2000, Kachalla falls under the non-administrative component of the Shehu of Borno palace structure.

Although many bandits in Nigeria are of Fulani origin, there are also bandits of Kanuri origin as well as other ethnic groups. In this sense, the fact that the criminals already mentioned had “Kachalla” in their names may be helpful to understand the tribe they belonged to.

The identification of “Kachalla” by the authorities as a bandit group is also evidence that Kachalla is a title used to distinguish any bandit leading this group and is saddled with leadership responsibilities. This may explain why each of the three bandit leaders killed in the region had Kachalla in their names.

CONCLUSION: The claim by Sani that one terrorist leader called Kachalla has been killed three times in three years is misleading.