A new terrorist organization has been declared by the Nigerian government – the Lukawara organization
ISWAP (Islamic State – West Africa Province) has managed to recruit a significant number of local fighters, especially among the Lukawara tribal militia. These new human resources allow it to be even more offensive. ISWAP has understood that it is important to exist in order to confront its rival Al-Qaeda, which is embodied in the region by the ‘Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims’ JNIM. Therefore, at this time, ISWAP is in a survival phase. Its fighters are trying to establish themselves on the border between Burkina Faso and Benin without success.
ISWAP is trying to regroup around the Lake Chad Basin with the Lukawara tribe. This is a tribe made up of traditional hunters and farmers, a tribe that is disappointed with the attitude of the Nigerian government and feels very alienated from it. The Lakurawa first emerged in northwestern Nigeria in 2018, led by Ameer Habib Tajje.[1] Originally organized as local vigilante groups to protect residents from robberies and looting, the armed Lakurawa have radicalized and aligned themselves with the ideology of ISWAP.
Since late 2024, the Nigerian military has considered them a new insurgent group.[2] In an official statement, in the High Court in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, Nigeria’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi said the group’s activities pose a serious threat to national security.
The statement said that Lakurawa is involved in acts of terrorism, including cattle rustling, kidnapping for ransom, hostage-taking and attacks on government officials. The group was also accused of spreading harmful ideology in local communities and encouraging locals to ignore authorities, “causing injuries and loss of life and property to innocent citizens in Nigeria.”[3]
The organization first appeared in a number of communities in the states of Sokoto and Kebbi a few years ago. Authorities were informed by locals about the group’s existence, activities, and extreme ideologies, but nothing was done. [4]
Who are the Lakurawa?
The Lakurawa are armed pastoralists who speak Arabic and Fulfulde. The dominant language in northern Nigeria and many parts of Niger is Hausa, while Fulfulde is spoken primarily by the Fulani people. The group’s members came from Mali to settle in border communities. They married local women and recruited young men from these communities for jihadist activities. They enforce Sharia law in the communities where they live. [5]
A brief overview of the group’s origins
As early as 2024, the Nigerian military identified Lakurawa as a relatively new terrorist group that had infiltrated Sokoto and Kebbi states via Niger. The Nigerian Army Headquarters has recognized Lakurawa as a new threat exacerbating insecurity in the north-west of the country. [6]
A 2022 study by Murtala Rufa’i, James Barnett and Abdulaziz Abdulaziz – notes that the Lakurawa militants are indicative of the birth of the armed group. Lakurawa fighters were initially brought to Sokoto State in 2017 by local leaders from Gudu and Tangaza local governments to help control the growing bandit threat from Zamfara State. Community leaders who recruited the Lakurawa tribesmen contributed to their expansion by providing cash, cattle, logistical support and weapons for their efforts. In 2018, when reports of an armed presence by the Lakurawa emerged, local police dismissed the reports, attributing their arrival to the need to access water sources for herding sheep. Members of the group were monitored and observed in forested areas of Gudu district and nearby villages, but the police played down their intentions.
The Lakurawa’s turn to violence began when its members killed a leader in Tangaza district who had initially supported them, claiming that the leader’s son was in possession of funds belonging to the group.
The group soon began to impose its ideology, collecting ‘Zakat’ from herders and monitoring local activities, even punishing music and dancing. Escalation included a wave of attacks on military bases in the border areas that led to a joint military operation by Nigerian and Nigerien forces in late 2018, which briefly curtailed the activities of the Lakurawa, although locals continued to report their extremist activities.[7]
Traditional and community leaders who had previously supported Lakurawa eventually turned against the group because its operations had deviated from its original purpose of protection and security. Although it provided significant intelligence to authorities, the limited media attention to these efforts has hampered broader public awareness.
The inability of Nigerian authorities to fully address the Lakurawa threat has allowed the group to re-emerge in 2021, this time in collaboration with bandits and some Fulani communities in opposition to the outlawed Yan Sakai civil guard group. [8]
Location and event data according to ACLED (Armed Conflict Location and Event Data) shows that the Lakurawa tribe, based on their areas of activity, carried out at least 13 attacks in Nigeria and eight attacks in Niger in 2025 after carrying out none in 2024. [9]
Similarities to the growth of Boko Haram
Regarding the growth of the organization and the threat it poses to Nigerian internal stability, given the Nigerian government’s helplessness in suppressing the Lakurawa tribe, we must go back about 15 years and remember the birth of Boko Haram in the northeast of the country. It seems that the lessons of the recent past have not been learned, neither in the Nigerian military nor at the political level. [10]
The ways to deal with the emergence of terrorist groups and radicalization in northern Nigeria should have been clear and obvious to every level of state dealing with state security in the face of the growth of Boko Haram. The fact that the security agencies (military, police, security services…) were unable to stop the growth of the Lakurawa tribe as a radical terrorist organization identified with the ideology of the Islamic State, indicates the continued existence of those elements that have long supported terrorism in Nigeria.
The emergence of Boko Haram and now the Lakurawa as a terrorist organization in Nigeria suggests that the ceding of state authority, in whole or in part, to sub-state actors (e.g., authorization to act as armed civil guards) can be temporarily beneficial but historically counterproductive when these organizations become violent and hostile toward the citizens they are supposed to protect and toward official security agents. The fact that the state security authorities allowed this group to provide security services to communities in the form of protection from robberies was a preventable mistake. This situation provided the Lakurawa with opportunities to understand the contours of the communities, to consolidate legitimacy, and to increase their membership.
The insecurity in Nigeria is unlikely to end anytime soon. Instead, groups are splintering and multiplying under different names but with similar goals, with the expected spread across the Sahel region. There is no end in sight to the instability in the Sahel countries. The challenges of ensuring the security of citizens and tackling the root causes of the insurgency remain pressing issues. As the situation evolves, the balance between military action and humanitarian considerations will be crucial in restoring peace and stability to the affected areas.
[1] News Renounce criminal activities – Lakurawa warns Bello Turji
[2] New Nigerian jihadist group declared terrorists https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjvqe4n7gzo
Is Lakurawa the emerging face of terror in the Sahel?
[3] Nigeria’s terror group Lakurawa is nothing new – it exists because of government’s failure: analysts
[4] Although they were known to be militants, the Nigerian police portrayed them as harmless because they used their weapons against bandits and cattle rustlers and not against civilians or the state. However, their relationship with the police deteriorated when they began using their weapons to terrorize local residents. They established bases in these communities, from where they moved to preach against Western civilization and democracy. They began to promote radical Islamic ideology and attempted to enforce heterodox practices (against infidels and heretics) and a strict code of governance aimed at establishing a caliphate.
[5] For more on this tribe, see:
Murtala Ahmed Rufa’I, Importing Militant Jihadists
Chapter from: Traditional Authority and Security in Contemporary Nigeria
The chapter analyzes the response of traditional Authorities to Muslim Youth Extremism in the Nigeria-Niger Border Areas of Sokoto State (Routledge, 2023).
Emergence of a New Terrorist Group “Lukarawa” in Northwest Nigeria and Its Implications on the Peaceful Coexistence and Religious Harmony of People in the Region
[6] All you need to know about Lakurawa terrorists’ group
https://nigeriaworld.com/news/source/2024/nov/13/43.html
Lakurawa Terror Group Must Not Come to Stay
https://allafrica.com/stories/202411180272.html
[7] How new terrorist group for north-west Nigeria take emerge’ – Nigerian military
https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/articles/cqlre3pnnv0o
Nigeria’s Military Launches Offensive Against ISIL-Affiliated Rebel Group.
[8] The Ƴan-Sakai is a lawless group operating in northwestern Nigeria. The group is made up mainly of Hausa farmers, and was formed by local residents to protect themselves from bandits.
Members of the group have been accused of carrying out extrajudicial violence, torture, and killings against Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria. In response, some Fulani herdsmen formed their own group, Yan Bindiga.
In 2020, they were ordered to disband by the governor of Zamfara State. After ongoing violence by Yan Sakai and Yan Bindiga, Zamfara State launched an offensive against them, blocking all communication with them, and banning the sale of gas cylinders used to make bombs. These groups have a wide range of weapons, including rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and anti-aircraft guns.
[9] ACLED database, https://acleddata.com/data-export-tool
[10] A “Sahelian” or a “Littoral” Crisis? Examining the Widening of Nigeria’s Boko Haram Conflict
https://www.hudson.org/sahelian-or-littoral-crisis-examining-widening-nigerias-boko-haram-conflict
The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism.
