The new Defence Minister must immediately recognise Lakurawa not merely as common bandits, but as a burgeoning, dangerous proto-insurgency. The Federal High Court in Abuja has already officially proscribed the group, rightly acknowledging them as a clear and present security threat, thereby affording the State the crucial legal latitude required for decisive, comprehensive action.
By Shu’aibu Usman Leman
The security landscape across Nigeria’s North-West and North-Central regions is currently deteriorating at an alarming rate, a crisis starkly overshadowed by the rapidly lengthening presence and increasing audacity of the notorious armed group known as Lakurawa. This pervasive insecurity is transforming daily life for millions.
Communities that once enjoyed a fragile semblance of peace are now gripped by a pervasive, suffocating fear. This harrowing reality is richly illuminated in Malik Samuel’s investigative report for The Guardian, published on 24 November 2025, wherein he provides chilling accounts of how entire communities have been forced into the humiliating position of negotiating their daily survival and security under the imposing shadow of Lakurawa’s authority.
Samuel’s exhaustive reporting makes one crucial point unequivocally clear, that this escalating threat is neither new nor sudden. On the contrary, it is the direct, tragic result of years of largely unnoticed build-up, facilitated by complex local alliances, and underpinned by a corrosive culture of political complacency. What Nigeria is now witnessing—the daily terror, the displaced populations—is the deeply regrettable consequence of consistently ignoring early warning signs and intelligence advice. Lakurawa serves as a grim and potent example of how certain local leaders, whether through deliberate action or sheer inadvertent negligence, have managed to import terror directly into their own territories.
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The group’s origins can be traced to their initial arrival from Mali sometime between 2016 and 2017, detailing the mechanisms by which leaders in the affected region actively enabled their settlement initially, often under the misguided pretext of securing local protection or political advantage.
What may have begun with the dangerous intention of providing community self-defence has disastrously deteriorated into a sophisticated insurgent machine. According to Samuel’s compelling findings, the group has now profoundly entrenched itself, both socially within the community fabric and militarily in terms of operational control. They are actively consolidating their authority by wielding a terrifying arsenal of fear, coercion, and an increasingly potent strain of religious extremism. The perilous practice of arming non-state actors—be it as local vigilantes, political muscle, or proxy forces—continues to tragically backfire across the North. Samuel’s account vividly shows former ally communities who once viewed Lakurawa as their necessary partners in defence, are now, ironically, living under a new, brutal order imposed by sheer force and systematic indoctrination.
Nigeria’s systemic defence weaknesses are already well-known and widely debated. They include weak intelligence coordination, appointments frequently politicised, relentlessly porous borders, and critical logistical shortfalls. Malik Samuel’s reporting profoundly exposes how these established structural weaknesses have created the perfect vacuum for Lakurawa to flourish, allowing them to construct a devastating parallel authority. In several of the distressed communities he visited, it was frighteningly clear that Lakurawa fighters—not constitutionally mandated state officials—were the ones deciding who was safe, who was guilty, and what was permitted in daily life. This tragic reality is the unmistakable sign of a sovereign State systematically losing control to a deeply entrenched shadow authority.
We have observed this destructive pattern play out countless times before. History—from the infamous Janjaweed in Sudan to the rise of Boko Haram in Nigeria—unequivocally demonstrates that when the State yields space to non-state actors, those actors invariably return stronger, become exponentially more violent, and prove significantly harder to dislodge.
Today, the systemic terror of cattle rustling, mass kidnappings, and brutal punitive raids have become chilling daily realities for the affected population. Samuel reports that some communities have already tragically resorted to paying tribute to the insurgents for a modicum of safety, a disturbing and potent reminder of early Boko Haram tactics, when the government dangerously dismissed them as nothing more than isolated criminals. This intensifying crisis is precisely why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent nomination of General Christopher Musa as the new Minister of Defence must not be treated as a routine political appointment or cabinet reshuffle, but must instead be viewed as a strategic national defence decision of paramount importance.
Malik Samuel’s report unequivocally shows that the Lakurawa insurgency is primarily spreading through the vectors of governance failure. General Musa, a highly decorated former Chief of Defence Staff, brings invaluable battlefield experience forged in the crucible of Operation Hadin Kai and demanding multinational operations in the challenging Lake Chad region—experiences he will need to draw upon with urgent speed. His record clearly demonstrates strategic exposure at the highest echelons of command. But now, for the first time, his battlefield expertise must be resolutely matched by political courage; the courage to implement genuine, lasting reform in a defence sector tragically riddled with inertia and debilitating political interference. The new Defence Minister must immediately recognise Lakurawa not merely as common bandits, but as a burgeoning, dangerous proto-insurgency. The Federal High Court in Abuja has already officially proscribed the group, rightly acknowledging them as a clear and present security threat, thereby affording the State the crucial legal latitude required for decisive, comprehensive action.
Samuel disturbingly notes that the Lakurawa group has already begun actively enforcing behaviour codes, severely restricting movement, and systematically destroying what they pejoratively term “unholy items.” These are not random, disconnected acts—they are clear, deliberate steps toward replacing the sovereign authority of the State with an oppressive ideological rule. The crippling consequences are visible and escalating. Samuel documents extensively abandoned farmlands, massively displaced residents, and entire communities left paralysed by fear. Schools remain closed across several districts, including those where the State’s presence has been non-existent for years, compounding the crisis. With at least 19 local government areas already economically or socially crippled, General Musa must grasp that counter-insurgency is fundamentally more than just military engagement; it must be the swift and concerted restoration of government legitimacy and essential public service delivery.
Global lessons are highly instructive for Nigeria’s leadership. The experiences of Sri Lanka, Colombia, and Iraq all demonstrate that successfully defeating a protracted insurgency requires a foundation of unified command, surgically intelligence-led operations, and the consistent re-establishment of effective civil administration. This must become General Musa’s core doctrine. Furthermore, accountability must be rendered absolutely non-negotiable. Malik Samuel traces how toxic political compromise and widespread corruption at the local and regional levels were instrumental in helping Lakurawa first take root.
A Defence Minister entrusted with a reform mandate simply cannot tolerate such enabling, corrosive environments. The clock is ticking. Malik Samuel’s meticulous report is not an optional reading; it is a blaring alarm bell. Boko Haram started precisely this way—initially dismissed, dangerously underestimated, and finally excused. The window for decisive, comprehensive action is narrow and closing fast. Nigeria must reject all forms of complacency and act with profound urgency under its new Defence Minister.
