Lakurawa not new terror group – Ex-DSS Director, Ejiofor

An erstwhile Director of the Department of State Services, DSS, Mike Ejiofor, says the now dreaded insurgent group, Lakurawa, causing mayhem in the North-western part of the country is not new.

DAILY POST recalls that the Defence Headquarters last week announced the emergence of Lakurawa as a new terror group operating in Sokoto and Kebbi States.

The Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, said the terror group is worsening insecurity in the North-West region, stressing that the Nigerian military was already containing them.

Speaking, however, on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, Ejiofor maintained that the group has been in existence before now.

The former DSS director, who noted that members of the terror group are not Nigerians, traced their origin to Niger Republic and Mali respectively, giving a brief history of the origin of the insurgents.

“I was taken aback when I heard that Lakurawa was a new terrorist group. The truth is they aren’t new.

“The group was initially formed by Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, the former Nigerien military Head of State, as a vigilante group that was working with them, but after his death, the Nigerien government neglected them, and they now scattered.

“One of the district heads in Sokoto State invited them to help them with good intentions, not knowing they had their agenda,” Ejiofor said.

According to him, in 2018, the Sokoto State government became worried when the group started showing their true colour and decided to expel them from the country through negotiations.

He added that part of the group from Mali left after the negotiation but the other part of the group from Niger stayed behind and continued the operation.