At a press conference called recently by the spokesman for the Nigerian army, the authorities revealed the emergence of a new terror group in the north west of the country, different from Boko Haram operating in the North east. By this announcement, Nigeria’s entire north appears in the hold of an insurgency that has been able to spread its deadly tentacles across the entire region, in spite of the government’s efforts at fighting back.
According to a popular Nigerian security expert, Zagazola Makama, who has written extensively on the activities of the different insurgent groups in the country’s north, the new extremist group, known as “Lakurawa,” appears rather focused on fighting bandits rampaging across the north than attacking government forces.
There is a perception among security watchers that the political fallout from the July 2023 Niger Coup, which caused serious strains in the relationship between Niger and Nigeria, led to a halt in cross-border law enforcement and cooperation against banditry. A consequence is that the 1,600km border now plays host to several insurgent groups and a range of transnational illicit activities.
A security expert and lawyer in Nigeria who chose anonymity says that several groups are taking advantage of weak security measures at the border, infiltrating Nigerian communities and forging alliances with local bandits, recruiting youths into their fold from Nigeria. Another respected security analyst, Bulama Bukarti, explains that this is easy because the Niger-Nigeria border is completely open. “You can go in and out any time of the day from hundreds of locations.”
It is also believed that the growing presence of these groups in Nigeria may be a result of heightened efforts by the Nigerièn military to expel them.
In a strange change of roles, reports say the new group appears to be acting as law enforcers in the north-western state of Sokoto, with their leader, Ameer Habib Tajje, reportedly demanding the complete renouncement of criminal activities by bandits.
Unlike traditional criminal gangs, Makama reports his sources as saying, the Lakurawa adhere to extremist ideologies linked to the Khawarij sect, considered one of the most hard-line Muslim sects. Local sources suggest that they employ a combination of financial incentives and ideological influence to gain support among vulnerable communities.
According to Makama, Beyond the recruitment, the Lakurawa reportedly confront and expel bandits and confiscate their cattle in areas under their control. He also claims that the group is yet to carry out any attack against government forces or communities in the North west.
Some other top public personalities in the country’s north, including a popular civil rights activist and former Senator, Shehu Sani, say the Lakurawa is not a new terrorist group. He believes it is part of “the chain of terrorist forces unleashing evil along the length of the Sahel.” The major difference between the Lakurawa & the Nigerian based bandits and terror groups, he says, is that the chain of command of the former are foreigners and that they are “likely to engage in continuous battle of supremacy against their Nigerian counterparts.”
While these claims suggest that the group currently poses little threat to government, it is clearly an established threat as an alternative authority with armed members who run free across sovereign territories, and their demands for strict adherence to Islamic tenets mirror the same mode of operation of other Islamist insurgent groups across the Sahel, seizing control and imposing a strict form of Islamic jurisprudence outside legitimate authorities.
The group’s offer of as much as $590 to young men in exchange for their allegiance also presents a major attraction for a teeming unemployed youth population across the region. They continue to exploit local grievances, such as economic hardship and lack of opportunities, to attract recruits. Makama cites impeccable sources as saying that the group is actively recruiting local youths in Sokoto through these substantial financial incentives.
The presence of individuals reportedly from Mali, Chad, Libya, Niger, and Burkina Faso highlights this reality and indicates the transnational dimension to this group that Sani talks about, transforming it into a regional security issue.
This threat, many say, also implies major financial backing from unknown sources and the Nigerian government could quickly eradicate the threat if it follows the paper trail that would inevitably result from investigating possible bank transfers and withdrawals.
For many, the reality of the country’s biting economic conditions, especially in the north, may spur a surge in recruitment. Some experts have even suggested that recent violent protests against the country’s struggling economy, resulting in widespread looting and deaths in the north, already exposed a major threat to an unstable social system. There is a real risk, they warn, that many of the young rioters could be lured into these groups.
This development, some political commentators have said, is deeply concerning and highlights an urgent need for a coordinated response to counter extremism in Nigeria’s northwest. The Lakurawa group’s tactic of offering substantial financial incentives to economically vulnerable youth in Sokoto directly targets those who may feel they have few options. This, combined with extremist ideology, poses a serious threat to stability in the region.
Confronting the insurgency
Popular opinion in the country say, to sustain their current momentum against insurgency that has resulted in some key successes, the security agencies must increase surveillance and intelligence efforts to monitor and counter the threat Lakurawa poses and nip it at this early stage.
Additionally, there have been calls for collaboration between communities and economic empowerment agencies to offer alternative pathways through job creation, education, and skill development programs. This joint approach, combining security with socio-economic interventions, aocial commentators say, can help protect communities from exploitation by extremist groups.
For others, the military strategy must continue to involve coordinated efforts by a multinational force from across the region. This is the position of Sani, who says that “combating and annihilating Lakurawa demands a multinational action especially between Benin Republic, Niger & Nigeria.
