Northern Nigeria is confronting an escalating security emergency as a loose but deadly convergence of local bandits, armed herders, and foreign jihadist fighters tighten their grip across nine states in the North-West and North-Central regions. Investigations reveal that communities in Sokoto, Kwara, Kebbi, Katsina, Kano, Kaduna, Zamfara, Kogi, and Niger have become targets of interlinked criminal factions whose activities now mirror insurgency-level operations—kidnappings, mass raids, extortion, territorial occupation, and ideological policing. Security sources confirm that local bandit groups are increasingly integrating foreign fighters fleeing instability in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger Republic, resulting in more coordinated, sophisticated, and mobile attacks. Unlike structured terror organisations such as Boko Haram or ISWAP, these groups operate fluidly,shifting alliances, leadership, and camps with little traceable pattern. This investigative report presents a stat...