Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
The military has revealed that it has identified several senior commanders of ISIS and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) operating in the Lake Chad region of northern Borno State.
In a statement issued on Thursday in Maiduguri, the Acting Military Information Officer at the Headquarters Joint Task Force (North East), Operation Hadin Kai, Capt. Mohammed Goni, said the identities of the terrorist leaders were uncovered after troops recovered critical evidence during an offensive against ISWAP fighters on the fringes of Lake Chad in Borno State.
Goni revealed that troops recovered several technical devices and what he described as “high-value” intelligence materials. These, he said, included a camcorder allegedly used by ISWAP terrorists to record propaganda videos and document operational activities.
“Subsequent forensic exploitation of the recovered devices generated actionable intelligence, leading to the identification of locations associated with terrorist activities as well as identities of several senior ISWAP leaders operating within the Mangari-Metele-Dogon Chukun axis along the fringes of the Lake Chad Basin in Abadam and Kukawa Local Government Areas of Borno State.”
He named the key ISIS and ISWAP operatives as Abu Musa Al-Mangawi Baa Shuwa, identified as the Waki Governor of ISIS West Africa Province; his deputy, Amirul Jaish Muhammad Jidda, also known as “The One-Handed Man”; and Hamad Abu Hanifa, the Amirul-Fiya of ISWAP.
The military alerted members of the public that Abu Musa Al-Mangawi Baa Shuwa remains the most wanted terrorist leader operating within the Lake Chad Basin.
It announced a monetary reward for any individual with credible and actionable information directly leading to the arrest of the terrorist leader.
“All information received will be treated with the utmost confidentiality, and the identity of informants will be fully protected in accordance with established security procedures,” the military assured.
The military said that on 16 May, a joint US-Nigeria air strike killed a top ISWAP commander, Abu-Bilial al-Minuki, in Metele near the shores of Lake Chad.
The military’s latest discovery reinforces concerns raised by the Forum of Governors of the Lake Chad Basin comprising Nigeria’s Borno and Yobe states, as well as Niger and Chad during its meeting in early 2024.
At the meeting, the forum warned that the Lake Chad region, despite its vast agricultural potential, was increasingly serving as a stronghold for ISIS-linked terrorist groups.
