Nigeria’s Giant Leap Against Terrorism and the Fall of Ansaru Leaders
By MUKHTAR Ya’u Madobi,
Nigeria recently recorded a historic victory in its war against terrorism, underscoring the growing strength of the country’s intelligence network and operational capabilities.
A few weeks ago, security agencies successfully captured two top commanders of Ansaru, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group that has long terrorized Nigeria and its neighbors. This breakthrough is more than just another win against non-state actors—it is a decisive step towards dismantling one of the most lethal terror franchises in West Africa.
The arrest of these kingpins, achieved after months of coordinated intelligence operations, signals that Nigeria is increasingly adopting proactive and intelligence-driven strategies that disrupt threats at their roots rather than merely reacting to attacks.
Ansaru, short for “Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in the Black Lands”, emerged in 2012 as a splinter faction from Boko Haram. From inception, it aligned itself with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and operated through covert sleeper cells and forest hideouts across northern Nigeria.
The two men captured between May and July 2025 stand out as some of the most dangerous figures in Nigeria’s recent history. Mahmud Muhammad Usman, better known as Abu Bara’a, served as the self-proclaimed Emir of Ansaru and was long considered the spiritual and operational head of the group. His deputy and Chief of Staff, Mahmud al-Nigeri, also known as Mallam Mamuda, was notorious for overseeing training camps and operational logistics.
Both men had evaded capture for years, topping Nigeria’s most-wanted list while simultaneously appearing on international watchlists for masterminding high-profile terrorist attacks and kidnappings. Their trail of atrocities is long and bloody—from the 2022 Kuje Prison Break, to the attack on a uranium facility in Niger Republic, the abduction of French engineer Francis Collomp in 2013, the 2019 kidnapping of Alhaji Musa Umar Uba, Magajin Garin Daura, and the abduction of the Emir of Wawa in Niger State.
Beyond these incidents, intelligence reports confirm that the duo maintained active ties with terrorist groups in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso—connections that link Nigeria’s insurgency to the wider jihadist networks destabilizing Africa’s Sahel region.
So when National Security Adviser Mallam Nuhu Ribadu announced the arrests on August 16, 2025, he rightly described the operation as a “decisive blow” against Ansaru and a major milestone in Nigeria’s war on terror. Neutralizing the group’s central command, he emphasized, has significantly degraded its ability to plan and execute large-scale attacks.
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Recall that prior to the clamping down of Ansaru top commanders , the operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) have earlier arrested a terrorist kingpin, Abubakar Abba, the suspected senior commander of the Mahmuda terrorists’ group, operating across states in the North-central Nigeria.
Abba, believed to be the supreme leader of the group, who had been active along the Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State and its suburbs and parts of Kwara State in the past months, in particular, was said to have been arrested in Wawa town in Borgu. This is yet another significant milestone as per as counter-terrorism is concerned.
Meanwhile, counter-terrorism experiences worldwide show that cutting off a group’s leadership often leads to disorganization, declining morale, and eventual collapse. But while this feat deserves national celebration, it also calls for sober reflection. Arresting high-profile leaders is only one layer of defeating terrorism. Sustainable security requires dismantling the foundations that enable such groups to survive and regenerate.
This means blocking their financial lifelines—whether from kidnappings-for-ransom, smuggling, or illicit mining revenues—while addressing their recruitment pipelines by countering extremist narratives through education, community engagement, and deradicalization programs.
Equally vital is strengthening border surveillance to curb arms trafficking, while leveraging drones and data analytics for predictive intelligence. These steps must form part of Nigeria’s wider counter-terrorism strategy.
By doing so, Nigeria will not only safeguard its territorial integrity but also reinforce its emerging role as a regional leader in counter-terrorism. Already, the capture of Ansaru’s leaders has sent a strong signal across terrorist camps in Africa that Nigeria is no longer a safe haven for jihadist networks.
Nonetheless, terrorism remains an adaptive threat. Groups splinter, mutate, and re-emerge if pressure eases. That is why the arrest of Abu Bara’a and Mallam Mamuda must be treated not as the end of a struggle but as the beginning of an intensified campaign.
What must follow is the complete dismantling of their remnants, disruption of their financing structures, and the strengthening of governance in vulnerable communities. If Nigeria sustains this momentum—combining intelligence precision, military might, and socio-economic resilience—terror groups will not just be weakened but dismantled beyond recovery.
In the end, the capture of these notorious commanders represents a monumental triumph. But the ultimate victory will come when Nigeria drains the very swamps that breed terrorism. With consistency, collaboration, and unwavering will, the days of extremist groups holding Nigeria ransom are indeed numbered.
MUKHTAR Ya’u Madobi is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Crisis Communication. He writes via: [email protected]
