The eldest son of Mamman Nur, founder of the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) terrorist group, Mahmud Mamman Nur Albarnawy, has surrendered to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Mahmud, 22, surrendered on Sunday, May 12, 2024.
Intelligence sources according Zagazola Makama, Lake Chad Basin counterterrorism and insurgency expert, revealed that Mahmud Mamman Nur Albarnawy was confirmed to be the senior son of the late ISWAP founder after undergoing profiling at the Command Headquarters of NSCDC in Maiduguri.
The sources said that men of the command had facilitated his surrender through his uncle in Gamborun Ngala after receiving the information that he was willing to formally surrender to the Nigerian government.
The sources added that a reliable agent was sent to convey him and they arrived in Maiduguri on May 11, at about 1pm.
“Mahmud was later debriefed and profiled by an intelligence officer of the command where he confessed to having sneaked out of the Ali Ngulde camp in Mandara Mountain, Gwoza LGA, into Maiduguri and stayed for about a month at Gwange in the city capital before relocating to Gamboru Ngala without any alarm or distress signs from communities.
“During his stay in Gamboru Ngala, some of his late father’s loyalists were persuading him to return to the Lake Chad general area to pay allegiance to ISWAP but he refused, citing the betrayal and eventual execution of his late father.
“He confessed to having taken part in attacks in Bama, Banki, Gwoza and several other places as a middle rank fighter under the Boko Haram group.
“Mahmud was handed over to Bulunkutu rehabilitation facility for further documentation and custody,” the source said.
In 2013, top commanders of the late Muhammad Yusuf, founder of the Boko Haram group, including Mamman Nur, Khalid Albarnawi, Abubakar Shekau, Kaka Ali, Mustapha Chad, Abu Maryam and Abu Krimima, were compelled to move out of Maiduguri, following intensified campaign against them by the Joint Security Forces in Maiduguri.
After a while, they regrouped in Sambisa forest and continued their campaign of violence through coordinated attacks on towns and villages. They institutionalised the group to become a terror organisation.
In March 2015, Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the ISIS Caliphate of Abubakar Al-Baghdadi. ISIS accepted the pledge of allegiance and named Abubakar Shekau as the first Wali of ISWAP.
Shekau was later removed by ISIS following a petition against his leadership by Mamman Nur and Abu Mussab Albarawi, who were the members of the Shura Consultative Council.
Shekau was accused of ideological extremism, extra judicial killings, injustice, poor leadership skills and, above all, killing women and children.
The internal crises led to the separation of the Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, Boko Haram group and the ISWAP, who moved to the Lake Chad region of Marte and Abadam to establish their caliphate with Mamman Nur as its new Spiritual Leader.
On August 21, 2018, Mamman Nur was eliminated in a mutiny led by Abou Mossab Albarnawyy in company of some ISWAP fighters. Nur was killed for releasing the kidnapped female students of Government Girls Secondary School Dapchi in Yobe State, without demanding ransom from the Nigerian government.
The elimination of Mamman Nur saw the emergence of Abou-Mossab Albarnawyy as ISWAP spiritual leader.
