More than 100,000 people have been driven from their homes after what Governor Bala Mohammed described as an invasion by over 10,000 heavily armed attackers in Alkaleri Local Government Area, Bauchi. Villages including Mansur, Digare, Gwana and Yelwan Fatuk were overrun, sent residents fleeing under sustained gunfire, and left local vigilante forces overwhelmed.
Videos circulating from the area show panicked families abandoning homes on foot as gunfire rings out. Authorities report no confirmed civilian casualties so far, but the scale of the displacement has already created a survival crisis. Farming season is imminent, and the mass exodus threatens planting and food security for entire communities.
State officials say a wider security vacuum contributed to the attack, noting that troops redeployed from Plateau and Bauchi to global hotspots have left parts of the northeast exposed. Recent Boko Haram raids near oil fields are compounding a surge in bandit activity across the region, stretching local policing and vigilante responses beyond breaking point.
Police units have been reported patrolling the Duguri-Mansur forests, while internally displaced people have crowded into camps in Gombe. The governor has appealed for federal aid and called for a regional summit to coordinate a response. Immediate needs include security reinforcements and humanitarian support, as communities confront an uncertain planting season and the logistics of sheltering tens of thousands of displaced people.
