A new armed group called Lakurawa is attacking villages in remote northwestern Nigeria and on the border with Niger, posing a new threat to two countries already suffering from protracted conflicts involving several other groups, including Boko Haram. .
In November, the Nigerian army acknowledged the existence of Lakulawa for the first time and said its members operate from headquarters in the country’s Sokoto and Kebbi states.
Attacks by the group have killed dozens of people and at least nine suspected members have been declared wanted by the Nigerian army.
The Northern Region is one of the most violent regions in Nigeria, with states in the state experiencing vicious incidents such as armed raids, kidnappings and armed assaults. banditry recent years. Nigeria’s military has also been grappling with a protracted battle with militants. Boko Haram Armed groups have existed in the Northeast for more than a decade.
Tensions between Nigeria and Niger caused by the July 2023 coup in Niger also affected joint military operations and gave the La Kulawa group more room to expand, officials said.
Here is information about the group:
Who is Rakulava?
According to Nigerian military officials, Lakulawa fighters are believed to be originally from the troubled people MaliA country in the Sahel region is currently under attack by a group of transnational armed groups seeking to dominate the territory.
Groups such as Jamaat Nusrat Muslim (JNIM) and the Islamic State’s affiliate in the Greater Sahara are some of the armed groups destabilizing Mali.
Nigerian officials say Lakurawa members are affiliated with Malian groups but have for years settled in communities along the border between Nigeria and Niger, marrying local women and recruiting young men.
However, researchers tracking the group’s origins note that its members did not just start operating. Initially, Lakulawa members were herders who would carry rifles for protection.
They formed an organized armed group after local leaders in the rural communities of Gudu and Tangasa in Sokoto State, Nigeria, invited them to help deal with armed bandits who were raiding the communities for money and livestock and helping prompt them to take action. kidnapping crisis In Nigeria.
Due to deficiencies in the country’s local and state governments, the country’s remote communities are often unsupervised, leading to rampant crime. Local leaders in Sokoto want Lakulawa warriors to fight bandits and protect the community.
Lakurawa members were paid to eliminate the bandit threat between 2016 and 2017. However, members of the group soon turned to the community as well. They got into an argument with a local leader who invited them and murdered him.
According to the Nigerian International Affairs Think Tank, most Lakulawa militants are between the ages of 18 and 50 and speak Fulfude, Hausa and Arabic. Fulford is spoken primarily by the Fulani ethnic group, whose members are found throughout West Africa.
The Nigerian military stated that it has identified some of the leaders of the organization: Abu Khadija, Abdulrahaman (Idi), Dadi Gamba, Mohammed Abu, Usman Shehu, Abu Yusuf, Moussa Waliya, Ibrahim Suyaka, Basulhu and Idris Taqrakese.
What do they want?
The Nigerian military said in a November statement that Lakulawa’s motives or ideology were unclear.
However, researchers who speak to communities affected by the violence say the group promotes its own version of Islam and hopes to seek a caliphate.
The group is believed to have imposed its own version of Islamic law in the areas it governs.
What did they do?
Members of La Kulawa have been attacking villages in Nigeria and Niger. They are believed to have held territories in several villages and taxed the livestock there.
The group is said to be distributing money, farm tools, fertilizers, seeds and water pumps to locals in need as a strategy to attract more followers and gain local support. It is estimated that new recruits are paid 1 million naira ($645) and local informants are paid around 10,000 naira ($6).
Villagers who do not cooperate with the group’s leaders face threats and attacks. Dozens of people have been killed in violence linked to La Kulawa. In the latest attack on November 9, the group launched an attack on the Mera community in Kebbi State, Nigeria, killing 15 people.
How is Nigeria responding?
Tensions between Nigeria and Niger have hampered a joint and comprehensive response to La Kulawa and given the group some room to maneuver.
Niger’s military seized power in July 2023, but Nigeria, the current leader of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc, has taken a hard line against the military, demanding the country return to civilian rule and release detained former president Mohamed Bazoum .
Before Niger’s 2023 coup, the two armies maintained joint border patrol operations. This action is believed to have helped dismantle the group in 2020.
However, joint operations between the two countries were disrupted amid post-coup tensions. Around the same time, members of the group regrouped and began attacking communities again, taking advantage of the security vacuum created by a further breakdown in relations, Nigerian authorities said. Joint border patrols have since resumed.
In late 2024, Nigeria launched an operation against the group. The military carried out airstrikes against targets believed to be members of La Kulawa in the affected northern states, as well as ground attacks on the group’s camps.
The Nigerian military admitted in December last year that the organization’s ammunition caches in Gidan Bisa and Gidan Runtuwa villages in Sokoto State were hit by air strikes and triggered secondary explosions, resulting in the accidental killing of 10 civilians. A military spokesman said the villages were high concentrations of the group.
What about Niger?
Niger’s government has not said whether it has launched a special operation targeting the group, and it is not clear which areas of Niger have been affected.
In an interview with local reporters in December, military leader General Abdourahamane Tchiani blamed Nigeria for the group’s emergence and said Abuja and France supported the group’s attacks on Niger.
The country, a former French colony, fell out with Paris over a 2023 coup. Likewise, Mali and Burkina Faso, also ruled by military juntas, are at loggerheads with former colonial leader France.
French President Emmanuel Macron has since grown closer to Nigerian leader Bola Ahmed Tinubu, leading the two former allies to accuse Abuja of colluding with enemies.
Tekiani said in an interview in December that senior Nigerian officials, including President Tinubu’s security adviser Nuhu Ribadu, were involved in a plan to keep armed fighters in border communities to attack Niger.
“He knew about it but he kept silent,” Tiani said.
The Nigerian government has denied the accusations, saying they are “nothing but imagined.”