Mantau Massacre: A Nation Betrayed by Its Protectors

By Mahmud Abdulsalam

The Katsina State Commissioner of Police was in Unguwan Mantau, Malumfashi Local Government area of the state recently, but his footsteps only deepened the wounds of a grieving community. He did not come as a protector, for when the people of Unguwan Mantau needed protection, he and his command were nowhere to be found.

According to Governor Dikko Umar Radda, PhD, in a recent social media interview, all security agencies in Katsina — the police inclusive — were informed well in advance of the planned attack on the community. The intelligence was clear. The warnings were given. Yet nothing was done.

And so, in the dead of night, the killers came. The police looked away. The military looked away. Every agency that swore an oath to defend the innocent folded its arms, giving the murderers a free pass to storm a mosque, butcher men at prayer, and burn families alive in front of their loved ones.

Now, when the ground is soaked with blood and the smoke has long cleared, the same authorities file into Unguwan Mantau with cameras and empty words of condolence. This is not leadership. This is betrayal. A nation cannot claim to have security when its forces arrive only after the grave has been dug.

The massacre in Unguwan Mantau is not just another headline in the growing list of atrocities in Northern Nigeria. It is proof that our federal government, our military, and our police force have normalized bloodshed. It is proof that the lives of ordinary citizens mean nothing to those in power.

If there is any shred of conscience left in Abuja, this tragedy must mark a turning point. The responsibility for the police and the military lies squarely with the federal government. It is time for them to prove — in action, not words — that Nigerian lives still matter. Anything less is complicity in the mass graves of Unguwan Mantau.