Nigerian soldiers kill notorious terrorist Halilu Sububu

Soldiers working with vigilante operatives have killed Halilu Sububu, a notorious terrorist operating in Zamfara and Sokoto states. He was killed in an ambush on Thursday, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.

The gunfight took place around the Kuzawa and Mayanchi areas on the extended Gusau-Sokoto highway in Maru Local Government area of Zamfara State.

Local sources told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr Sububu was killed alongside some of his foot soldiers while he was crossing the highway en route to Bagega forest where he has his base.

Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, the senior special assistant on media and publicity to President Bola Tinubu, confirmed the killing of the terrorist in a tweet on Friday.

“The bandit kingpin, Kachalla Halilu Sububu (pictured), was downed this morning by troops. His death adds to the increasing number of bandit-warlords cut down by security forces under this administration: Ali Kawaje, Dangote, Damina, Baleri, Modi-Modi, etc.”

Mr Sububu was one of the notorious terrorists in the north-west whose attacks on civilians and security officials have led to the death of hundreds of people and displacement of millions of others.

In his later years, Mr Sububu relocated to Bagega forest in Anka Local Government Area of Zamfara State, where he took control of mining sites in the area as reported by PREMIUM TIMES in an investigation last year.

“I can confirm that Halilu Buzu (Mr Sububu) was killed because he left Bagega very early in the morning with his boys on over 50 motorcycles,” a native of Bagega, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, said. “It was in the late evening that we started hearing stories that he was ambushed by soldiers. Then some miners returned from his sites and said some of his boys had returned without him.”

Another local source said Mr Sububu travelled through Mayanchi-Anka highway but delved into the forest around Gwaram village in Talata Mafara Local Government Area. He wanted to cross over the highway to access Maradun forest but was intercepted by the soldiers, the resident said.

“He didn’t believe the soldiers would get his location because that was his style,” the source said. “Halilu would not use the same route when going to his hometown, Sububu or Tubali, but yesterday he decided to do that, and the soldiers still got him. We thank God that the soldiers got him.”

The man, Halilu Sububu

Mr Sububu is not an ordinary terrorist, called a bandit by locals. He is the only terrorist in the North-west who is known to have close ties with French-speaking Jihadists in the Sahel region of West Africa (Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Senegal). It is believed his gunrunning business was successful because of his affiliation with Jihadists in the Sahel.

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

A family friend of Mr Sububu, whom PREMIUM TIMES spoke to on the phone in October, said the terrorist was born in 1986 as Halilu Jammare. His father, a Fulani herder, Jammare, was born in Jajjaye, a community near Sububu. He said Mr Sububu’s mother is from the Niger Republic and came to Nigeria with her grandfather 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 got married,” the source told PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr Sububu’s father died 25 years ago, according to the source.