Kebbi APC Chairman Death Claim Sparks Alarm Over Captivity

A former Kebbi APC chairman now reportedly dead in captivity, a police command still refusing to confirm the worst, and a forest video that has turned private grief into a public national disgrace. The story of Alhaji Muhammadu Mai Barga Besse is no longer just about one man’s abduction. It is about a state drowning…

Atlantic Post

June 23, 2026

3–4 minutes

APC, Banditry, Kebbi State, Kidnapping, Northern Nigeria, security crisis

Fresh claims that Alhaji Muhammadu Mai Barga Besse, the former APC chairman in Koko/Besse Local Government Area of Kebbi State, has died in captivity have thrown the state back into grim uncertainty, but the police have not yet confirmed the report.

The Kebbi State Police Command says it is still verifying the development, and the latest public position from SP Bashir Usman is: “We are aware of reports concerning the victim’s deteriorating condition and possible death in captivity.”

That distinction is important. In the public reporting already confirmed by police in June, the death that had been acknowledged was that of an Islamic cleric, Alhaj Muhammad Maibarga, who was abducted alongside the former APC chairman.

Vanguard reported on 9 June that the Kebbi State Police Command confirmed the cleric’s death in bandits’ captivity, while saying efforts were still being intensified to verify the wider development and rescue other kidnapped victims. In other words, the chairman’s fate has remained a separate and still unsettled question.

The latest wave of alarm appears to have been triggered by social media conflict reporting. SaharaReporters said northern conflict monitors and security analysts shared claims that the former chairman had died, while popular conflict reporter D English Alhaji wrote that the former APC chairman had been “confirmed dead in captivity”.

In that same line of reporting, he said the two men seen in forest videos had both failed to return home after abduction.

The human detail behind the story remains devastating. In the viral captivity video that first exposed the men’s condition, Mai Barga Besse pleaded for intervention and described a worsening health situation in the forest.

He said, “Please help mobilise and get us out of here in the name of God,” and added, “We are in a dire situation.” SaharaReporters also said he complained that they were being forced to trek long distances and were surviving in frightening forest conditions.

What makes the case even more troubling is the way the story has shifted between confirmation and confusion. Vanguard’s June report said the cleric had died in bandits’ captivity in Koko-Besse, and that the deceased had been kidnapped with his friend, the former APC chairman.

SaharaReporters, by contrast, is now carrying the newer claim that the chairman himself has also died, but the police have not endorsed that position. Until the command gives a firmer statement, the situation remains a case of one confirmed death, one unverified death claim, and a family still waiting for certainty.

The wider security backdrop makes the uncertainty harder to ignore. Reuters reported on 8 June that bandits abducted dozens of villagers in northwest Nigeria after inviting them to a supposed peace meeting, a reminder that criminal groups continue to exploit negotiation channels, forest hideouts and weak rural protection.

Reuters also reported in March that gunmen killed nine Nigerian troops in Kebbi, while AP later reported the same attack left nine soldiers, a police officer and a resident dead in the state’s Shanga area. Together, those reports show that Kebbi remains one of the most volatile corners of the northwest.

The political symbolism is also stark. Mai Barga Besse is not an anonymous victim from the bush. He is a former local party chairman whose reported ordeal has now become a national security story, a public accountability story and, for many communities, a brutal measure of how far armed groups have pushed into the lives of ordinary families and respected local figures.

The viral video, the illness described by the captives, the police hesitation and the later death of the cleric together paint a picture of a system that is still struggling to rescue victims fast enough.

For now, the hard facts are narrow but heavy. Police have not verified the newest death claim. One death in the abduction case has already been confirmed. And the former APC chairman’s own fate, despite the viral footage and the growing online outrage, still hangs in the balance.

In a state already rattled by repeated ambushes, mass abductions and forest-based armed groups, even uncertainty has become part of the tragedy.