Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri has imposed a 24-hour curfew on Lamurde Local Government Area for the fourth time in less than six months, as a deadly communal crisis between the Chobo and Bachama communities continues to spiral out of control despite repeated government intervention.
The directive was announced on Sunday night March 8, 2026 through a statement issued by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary Humwashi Wonosikou, following a fresh outbreak of violent attacks and breaches of peace in communities across the local government area. “Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, has imposed a 24-hour curfew on Lamurde Local Government Area with immediate effect. This follows renewed violent attacks and breaches of peace in some communities within the area,” the statement read.
The governor described the disturbances as completely unacceptable. “Government views these disturbances as unacceptable and has directed security agencies to enforce the curfew strictly. Anyone or group found contravening this directive will be arrested and dealt with according to the law,” the statement warned.
Security agencies have been deployed across the local government area and the curfew will remain in place until further notice.
The latest outbreak is among the bloodiest yet. The protracted communal crisis between the Chobo and Bachama communities has claimed over 30 lives, particularly women. The fresh violence erupted barely days after Governor Fintiri brokered a fragile peace deal between the warring groups, with heavily armed Chobo-speaking militia from neighbouring Gombe State joining their Adamawa counterparts and launching coordinated assaults on Bachama communities, overrunning several settlements from the western axis and burning Tingno, Waduku and two other villages to ashes.
Sources in Lamurde disclosed that killings continued in Chobo villages as Bachama youths invaded their area in retaliation. Earlier reports confirmed that at least two people were killed before the governor’s statement was issued, with four more deaths recorded after Bachama youths mobilised to defend their communities.
The crisis has deeper roots that successive curfews have failed to address. Lamurde has been a flashpoint for communal attacks, with disagreements linked to lingering farmland disputes and demands by the Chobo community for a separate traditional chieftaincy from the Bachawa council.
The local government area is predominantly inhabited by Christian communities, making the renewed violence of particular concern and sensitivity.
Questions are also being raised about a security decision that residents believe may have contributed to the current escalation. Late last year, two trailer loads of young men described by residents as suspicious travellers were reportedly intercepted around the Lamurde-Gombe border corridor. Witnesses claimed the individuals appeared to be mostly strangers to the area. Residents say the group was initially stopped by security operatives but was later allowed to disperse instead of being arrested or thoroughly investigated raising concerns of complicity among community members.
With violence now escalating again, residents are demanding answers about who authorised that decision and why.
Fintiri appealed to residents to remain calm, cooperate with security agencies and avoid actions capable of further breaching the peace. “The government is committed to protecting lives and property and ensuring the safety of all citizens,” the statement added.
For a community that has now been placed under curfew four times in six months with the violence only growing deadlier, residents are increasingly asking whether curfews alone are enough or whether Lamurde needs a more permanent and comprehensive solution to the ongoing crisis
