Boko Haram Moving Into North Central, Governor Sule Warns

Nasarawa State governor, Abdullahi Sule, has warned of an infiltration of the Boko Haram splinter group, Wulowulo, into the North Central zone.

During an interface with security stakeholders in Lafia, the state capital, the governor urged the zone to unite against emerging threats.

LEADERSHIP’s web search for Wulowulo did not turn up any results other than the two Boko Haram’s earlier splinter groups, Jama’tu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS) and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which emerged as a result of disagreement among the leadership and commanders.
Sule warned that the emergence of the group will further compound the security situation in the zone which is already heightened by the activities of the Lakurawa group in parts of Kwara State.
The Nasarawa governor is the chairman of the North Central Governors’ Forum.

“As you are aware, this new group of Wulowulo, which is a splinter group of Boko Haram, is beginning to surface in the North Central zone.

“The Lakurawa group is now a big problem in Kwara. Originally, they were somewhere around Kebbi and Sokoto States, but now they have become prominent in Kwara. Kwara is one of the states in North Central,” he stated.

He charged security agencies to work towards halting the advance of the new group into Nasarawa while promising more logistics to aid the operation.

The interface and the alarm came about five days after attackers killed eight villagers in an early morning raid on the Nindama community in the Kokona local government area of the state.
He said the interface was necessary in view of security reports indicating that criminals from other parts of the country are trying to infiltrate the North Central zone.

“One of the reasons why we invited you here is the fact that the situation of insecurity, especially in other parts of the country, is a big concern, and some of them are beginning to spread into our state.
It is very important that we take steps to ensure that does not happen to us,” he noted.

He also expressed worries over the spate of kidnapping in parts of the state especially in metropolitan local government areas like Lafia and Karu.

He admitted that previous strategies have not been sufficient to curb the menace and called for a new formula to tackle it.

“Kidnapping has remained constant, especially in Lafia Local Government. It has moved from other places and become more prominent in Lafia and parts of Karu Local Government. That is the reason why I believe very strongly that whatever we are doing in the past may not be enough. We need to find another formula around it,” he said.