The bandit leader linked to the abduction and eventual death of retired Major General Rabe Abubakar has reportedly gone into hiding, amid claims circulating on social media that a rival bandit kingpin, Ado Aleru, has declared him wanted.
The bandit leader, identified as Kachalla Muhammadu (also known as Kachalla Muhammadu Fulani), is a notorious bandit leader indigenous to Matazu Local Government Area of Katsina State, and has been the prime suspect in the May 30 abduction of Gen. Rabe Abubakar (rtd), a former Director of Defence Information and ex-spokesperson of the Nigerian Army.
It was gathered that Kachalla had previously been involved in a government-backed peace arrangement with armed groups operating in the North-West before the abduction. 
The retired general was kidnapped alongside his wife, Hajiya Amina Abubakar, around the Matazu area of Katsina State while the couple were travelling to a wedding. Their vehicle was ambushed along the Marabar Musawa–Kafinsoli Road near Zakin Baure village, with their driver sustaining gunshot wounds in the attack.
Investigations by security agencies suggested the attack was not random. Preliminary findings indicated the abductors had deliberately targeted the general and his wife, tracking their movements from Kaduna before striking.
In the days that followed, Kachalla reportedly reached out to the family through an audio recording that later went viral. He demanded the release of three detained members of his gang and the return of livestock allegedly seized during a security operation in Jikamshi, appealing to the state government and local council leaders to meet his conditions.
He also confirmed reneging on a promise to free the general’s wife. Kachalla said he had planned to release Hajiya Amina but changed his mind because of the heavy security presence in the area, adding that he did not want security agencies to take credit for her release.
The bandit leader did not hide his readiness for violence either. He warned that he would have killed the general had his own parents been among those detained by security operatives, insisting that even a deployment of 1,000 soldiers would not help the government locate his camp.
Despite weeks of negotiation, Gen. Rabe did not survive captivity. The retired general died while in bandits’ custody, with the Katsina State Government attributing his death to complications from diabetes and hypertension rather than direct violence.
President Bola Tinubu reacted to the development, with his office expressing condolences to the family and the Armed Forces while reiterating that government would not bow to kidnappers’ demands.
There was, however, some relief for the family. Hajiya Amina Rabe Abubakar, who was abducted alongside her husband, was successfully rescued by security operatives.
Weeks later, troops intensified the manhunt for Kachalla’s gang. Soldiers of the 17 Brigade Strike Group and Quick Response Force, backed by the 8 Division Special Forces, raided a terrorist hideout in Fafu Village along the Matazu–Musawa axis under Operation CLEAN SWEEP III, engaging the bandits in a gun battle that forced them to flee and abandon their camp. Four other victims who had been held alongside the general and his wife since April 14 were rescued in that operation. The Army said troops remain on Kachalla’s trail.
Social media posts have since claimed that bandit kingpin Ado Aleru a Zamfara-based bandit leader who holds the title Sarkin Fulani and was himself once declared wanted by Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters with a bounty on his head has now declared Kachalla wanted, forcing him underground.
