National Security: ACF urges urgent action against new ‘Lakurawa’ terror group in North-East Nigeria

*Prof. Tukur Muhammad-Baba, National Publicity Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum, urges the Nigerian Military to immediately crush and decapitate the new ‘Lakurawa’ terror group terrorising residents of Sokoto and Kebbi states in the North-West region of the country

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Against the backdrop of the reported devastating state of insecurity in the North-West region, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has urged the Nigerian Military to immediately crush and decapitate the new “Lakurawa” terror group terrorising residents of Sokoto and Kebbi states in the region.

The ACF urged the Nigerian security apparatus to act urgently with all the human and material arsenals at their disposal without hesitation.

Lt.-Gen. Olufemi Olatunbosun Oluyede, Acting Chief of Army Staff

Prof. Tukur Muhammad-Baba, National Publicity Secretary of the Forum, in a statement said the ACF considered the emergence of the new terrorist group as very dangerous and alarming.

Muhammad-Baba noted the situation indicates an escalation in the devastating state of insecurity in the North-West, which has become Nigeria’s epicentre of terrorism.

The National Publicity Secretary, also stated that the emergence of the Lakurawa terror gang in the North-West Zone raises serious concerns, and poses a further grave challenge to national security interests.

The ACF warned that the newly-formed terror group should not be treated with kid gloves in any form or be tolerated or allowed to entrench itself or embedded in communities through benign neglect, as was the case with Boko Haram insurgency, farmer-herder clashes and banditry in the North-East, North-Central and North-West areas.

Besides, the ACF urged an immediate, comprehensive and thorough re-appraisal of strategies and tactics, to leave no one in doubt about the national resolve to deal decisively with any threats to Nigeria’s peace and stability.

Prof. Muhammad-Baba further explained that the emergence of the Lakurawa terror group has brought into sharp focus a need for the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MJTF) arrangement with neighbours to be reinvigorated and reinforced in the region.

The Niger Republic must be persuaded to return to participate in the endeavour, the statement noted.

The Forum also said: “The visit to the Niger Republic earlier in the year by Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, should be utilised as a fulcrum for renewed cross-border international efforts to deal with terrorists.

“The Federal Government, state and local authorities should also leverage the close complex historic socio-cultural, economic and political ties with Nigeria’s neighbours with which to confront the mutual existential security threats that terror groups pose to all.”

The National Publicity Secretary of ACF urged the military authorities on intensification of intelligence gathering, processing, storage, retrieval, deployment and utilisation.

It also urged security agencies to pay attention to the possible involvement of local informants in communities with a view to fishing out the culprits for possible arrest and prosecution.

The ACF as well sought a greater and more effective and efficient inter-agency collaboration among National Security Agencies under the coordination of the Office of the National Security Advisor, the statement noted.