Nigeria, May 17 -- On a hazy Tuesday morning in January, I shared a ride in a cramped vehicle with Khadija Muhammad, a quiet Fulani woman and her young daughter, on a 113-kilometre journey that revealed the damage that banditry has done to the cultural union of the Hausa and Fulani.

The two ethnic groups were so inseparable that they are referred to as Hausa-Fulani in the Nigerian media, and many in the country considered them as one.

I was travelling from Gusau, the capital of Zamfara State, to Anka Local Government Area (LGA) to interview sources for a story when I met Mrs Muhammad at a motor park along Gada Biyu in Gusau. By her looks, I estimated her to be in her late 30s or early 40s.

She sat directly behind the driver with her pr...