Two Catholic priests from Nigeria are really worried about the growing danger in their country. They’ve noticed some troubling activity from a lesser-known jihadist group called Lakurawa, which is causing even more problems in an area already struggling with the Boko Haram insurgency.

This Lakurawa group popped up in Northwest Nigeria back in 2018, initially stepping in to help locals deal with armed gangs called bandits. But now, they’re looking more like a threat. They are believed to be connected to a larger group known as Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and have been showing up in herding communities near the Nigeria-Niger border, especially after a coup in Niger back in July 2023.

Things took a deadly turn on November 8 when Lakurawa attacked a small rural community in Kebbi State, claiming the lives of 15 people and injuring many others. They didn’t stop there; they also stole cattle, leaving the villagers in fear and mourning.

In a recent chat with ACI Africa, Father George Ehusani, who’s the founder of the Psycho-Spiritual Institute and leads the Lux Terra Leadership Foundation, shared his worries. He fears that this new group might be trying to establish a base in Northwest Nigeria, making the already tough situation even worse for the people living there.

“We have insecurity coming from different directions,” Ehusani said when ACI Africa asked him about what ails Nigeria. “We have a new terrorist group that arose about two weeks ago in the Northwestern part of Nigeria. The group is linked to the Islamic State, and we hear the members are coming from Niger,” he said.

Ehusani shared that the folks from Lakurawa have been in hot water for some serious stuff. They’ve been accused of kidnapping, taking lives, and enforcing some pretty tough sharia laws on the people living nearby.

“The Lakurawa invades an entire village, imposes taxes on the people, and begins to run the society like a government does,” he told ACI Africa, adding, “We are in serious trouble. The Lakurawas are even preventing locals from going to their farms, forcing them to work on jihadists’ farms instead.”

The new jihadist group came promising to protect locals against armed attackers, Ehusani recalled. “The people are left with no option but to pay taxes in exchange for protection. They are a terrorist group who are paid to protect villagers from their rival terrorist groups.”

Ehusani is leading a project called PSI, which is all about training and helping people who focus on healing the emotional and spiritual wounds caused by trauma. In a country facing a lot of violence, including the rise of jihadism, more and more people are dealing with these tough experiences. Ehusani, who offers therapy to priests who were kidnapped in Nigeria, recently talked to ACI Africa about the different terrorist groups causing problems in the country.

“Once, a priest who had been kidnapped and released told me that among the bandits and jihadists, there are different competing groups. He said that the fact that one bandit group frees their hostage doesn’t mean that the hostage is free. One may be freed and be immediately kidnapped by another waiting rival bandit group,” he said.

During a recent visit to PSI’s campus in Kenya, Ehusani took a moment to chat with ACI Africa. He wasn’t alone on this journey—he had the wonderful company of Father Hyacinth Ichoku, the Vice Chancellor of Veritas University Abuja. That’s a Catholic university in Nigeria that has joined hands with PSI.

Shedding more light on the origin of the Lakurawa group, Ichoku told ACI Africa, “A few weeks ago, some soldiers were killed in Chad. The President of Chad wanted to dislodge everyone that was involved in the killing of the soldiers. This is what led to the birth of this group.”

Shedding more light on the origin of the Lakurawa group, Ichoku told ACI Africa,

“A few weeks ago, some soldiers were killed in Chad. The President of Chad wanted to dislodge everyone that was involved in the killing of the soldiers. This is what led to the birth of this group.”

He shared that some of the militants who came over to Nigeria from Chad are now part of a group called Lakurawa. He described them as a real “nightmare” for the people living in Northwest Nigeria. It’s pretty alarming how they have been causing so much trouble!

Ichoku mentioned that the Lakurawa are acting like “saviors” in communities that have been suffering from the terror caused by Boko Haram and other jihadist groups for many years.

“Everyone knows that this is no savior but just another terrorist group, seeking to destroy the others for it to dominate and to continue terrorizing locals,” he said.

“The group is still small yet very potent,” he further said, and expressed hope that Nigerian authorities can “nip it in the bud.”

Expressing the challenge that Nigeria might face is stemming the new Lakurawa group, Ichoku said, “The military is facing a multi-faced war in the north particularly, where it is fighting different terrorist groups. In such a situation, any military tends to spread the strengths across different groups.”

During an interview on November 20, Ehusani discussed the rising tension between farmers and herders, especially in areas in Nigeria where the Fulani people live. He highlighted an important point: many Fulanis are also found in nearby countries like Mali, Niger, Chad, and Burkina Faso, which adds to the challenges they’re facing.

“These people speak the same language and are over 90 percent Muslim. They are linked by both tribe and religion. They believe that they can go anywhere without anyone standing in their way,” Ehusani said.

“The challenge is that we don’t have any serious borders here. When a Fulani comes to Nigeria, he may walk around without anyone noticing that he is not Nigerian. And the immigration officials at the border can’t stop their fellow Fulanis from crossing,” he said.

Some of the Fulanis have been causing trouble for Christian farmers, and it turns out they have some buddies in the security forces backing them up, according to Ehusani. He didn’t hold back when he spoke about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, saying they’re not really putting in the effort to tackle the terrorist threat seriously.

 “At the moment, the government doesn’t even have credibility. You need a high credibility as government, whereby people accept you as government to be able to address this evil,” he said.

In the Nov. 20 interview, Ehusani expressed regret that Nigerians have also become more loyal to their religion and ethnic groups than to the country. “Some would protect known terrorists that are of their religion and ethnicity,” he said.

For him, insecurity in Nigeria will never end as long as there are high-level people benefitting from it. He said he finds it difficult to believe that it is the kidnappers “in the bush” solely benefitting from the kidnappings that are on the rise in most parts of Nigeria.

“At the moment, the government doesn’t even have credibility. You need a high credibility as government, whereby people accept you as government to be able to address this evil,” he said.

In the Nov. 20 interview, Ehusani expressed regret that Nigerians have also become more loyal to their religion and ethnic groups than to the country. “Some would protect known terrorists that are of their religion and ethnicity,” he said.

You see, this guy believes that insecurity in Nigeria will stick around for a long time. Why? Because there are some powerful folks who are making a lot of money from it! He finds it hard to swallow the idea that only the kidnappers hiding in the bushes are the ones winning from all these kidnappings happening across the country. Seems like there’s more to this story than meets the eye!

“There is no way that the boys in the bush are the ones benefitting from the huge amounts money they collect as ransom to release their kidnapped victims. It is a cartel in which higher people are involved, and it is them who are getting the bigger chunk of the money,” he said.

Ehusani said that Nigeria has a long way to go in the fight against jihadism and other forms of banditry.

“We need a form of revolution, a certain kind of complete overhaul of the system, because as things are, the criminals have taken over; they have taken over at every level,” he added.

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