Nigeria’s efforts to eliminate insecurity or reduce it to the barest minimum seem to be gaining traction. This is evident in a string of successes recorded by security agencies in a span of just three months. The capture of two of the most wanted leaders of the Al-Qaeda-linked Ansaru group, Mahmud Muhammad Usman, popularly known as Abu Bara’a, and Mahmud al-Nigeri, also called Mallam Mamuda, signalled the decimation of the terrorist networks that have been unleashing mayhem on Nigerians for nearly two decades.
The National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, who made the disclosure at a press briefing in Abuja, recently, said the milestone followed months-long intelligence-driven operation. Ribadu noted that the arrest of the two Ansaru leaders, between May and July 2025, has effectively dismantled the terrorist group’s central command. He added that caches of materials and digital evidence recovered during the operation are undergoing forensic analysis, and expected to yield further intelligence on the group’s networks in Nigeria and the wider Sahel.
These two arrested terrorists have been on Nigeria’s most-wanted list for years and are also internationally sought terrorists. Their capture marks one of the most decisive blows against Ansaru since its emergence in 2012. Ansaru, formally known as Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan, broke away from Boko Haram in 2012 and quickly gained notoriety for attacks on civilians, security forces, and infrastructure.
The group, which pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), claimed responsibility for high-profile crimes including the 2022 Kuje prison break in Abuja, the 2013 abduction of French engineer Francis Collomp in Katsina, the 2019 kidnapping of Alhaji Musa Umar Uba, Magajin Garin Daura, the abduction of the Emir of Wawa, the deadly attacks on a Niger uranium facility and other cross-border operations.
On the hells of the capture of the Ansaru leaders, was the six years jail sentence slammed on the embattled leader of a faction of Nigerian proscribed secessionist movement, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Simon Ekpa, by a court in Finland after convicting him of terrorism-related offences on September 1, 2025.
Ekpa, a Finnish citizen of Nigerian origin, “attempted to promote the independence of the so-called Biafra in South-eastern Nigeria by illegal means”. He also equipped armed groups with weapons and explosives through his network of contacts, the Päijät-Häme District Court ruled in a unanimous verdict handed down by a panel of three judges.
The court ruled that he had engaged in illegal activities between August 2021 and November 2024, and had also used social media to incite the public to commit crimes in Nigeria. Ekpa, who led a faction within IPOB, following Nnamdi Kanu’s incarceration on terrorism-related offences, was arrested at his home in Finland in February 2023.
In an intensified clampdown on gunrunning and illegal possession of arms, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) arrested 5,936 suspects for various crimes across the country, and recovered 360 firearms and 5,952 rounds of live ammunition. In a press release signed by the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, last week, the police spokesman said the operation was part of its renewed push to bolster national security and combat organised crime.
Those arrested included 715 armed robbery suspects, 306 kidnappers, 533 murder and homicide suspects, 149 suspects for the unlawful possession of firearms, 371 suspects for sexually related offences, 590 suspected cultists, and 3,272 suspects arrested for other various crimes.
Another milestone in the fight against insecurity was the conduct of eight phases of terrorism-related trials, leading to 775 convictions so far. The National Coordinator of National Counter Terrorism Centre, Office of the National Security Adviser (NCTC-ONSA), Maj.-Gen. Adamu Laka, made the disclosed penultimate Wednesday in Abuja at the opening of the Regional Conference on Combating Emerging Terrorist Groups and Strengthening Sustainable Security in the ECOWAS Region and the Sahel.
Laka said the trials demonstrated Nigeria’s resolve to pursue justice through lawful processes, while also providing avenues for rehabilitation and reintegration of repentant fighters. “This sends a clear message that terrorism will not go unpunished, and at the same time, our approach recognises the need for non-kinetic measures such as dialogue, reconciliation, empowerment, and community resilience”.
On September 3, 2025, the Department of State Services (DSS) arraigned nine individuals at the Federal High Court in Abuja over their alleged roles in the recent wave of killings in Benue and Plateau states. The agency also charged a suspected gunrunner found with seven M16 rifles. They face a four-count charge for their alleged involvement in the June 13 killings in Abinsi and Yelewata villages, Guma local government area of Benue state, alongside others still at large.
Blueprint.ng commends the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration’s renewed hope counter-terrorism breakthrough as highlighted in the foregoing adumbrated milestones, which are no mean feats. Much as these feats are laudable, it is apposite to advise the military to up its ante in bringing to a decisive end the insecurity monster unleashing mayhem on Nigerians.