- Security forces monitored Abu Baraa’s movements for months before tracking him down and capturing him in a classified operation.
- The national security adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, revealed the group had entrenched itself across northern Nigeria and border forests.
The most wanted commander of the Ansaru terrorist network, Abu Baraa, has been arrested by Nigerian security operatives.
National security adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, disclosed this at a briefing held inside the National Counter-Terrorism Centre, Abuja.
Ribadu appeared alongside service chiefs and intelligence bosses, explaining that Baraa was trailed from May and eventually caught in July.
According to him, the decision to intensify the chase followed growing concerns over Ansaru’s activities, which were designed to destabilise Nigeria.
“I am glad to inform you that we have successfully concluded a high-risk, intelligence-led, counter-terrorism operation which led to the capture of the top leadership of Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan, commonly known as Ansaru, Nigeria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate,” Ribadu said.
Ansaru was announced publicly in January 2012 during an event in Kano, emerging as a splinter from Boko Haram with claims of being ‘a humane alternative.’
That claim, however, quickly gave way to violent assaults on security personnel, civilian populations and government infrastructure.
The national security adviser added that the group openly adopted the insignia of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, confirming its ties to international jihadist movements.
He explained that Ansaru built urban sleeper cells while also establishing camps in forest zones, especially around Kainji National Park, which stretches into Niger, Kwara and neighbouring Benin Republic.
Security analysts describe Baraa’s arrest as the most significant breakthrough since 2016, when Khalid al-Barnawi, another Ansaru commander, was seized alive by the military.
Barnawi had earlier been listed in 2012 by the United States as a “specially designated global terrorist” alongside Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and Ansaru founder Abubakar Adam Kambar.
Al-Barnawi rose to the top of Ansaru following Kambar’s death in a military assault on his Kano base in March 2012.
It remains unconfirmed whether Abu Baraa eventually took over from al-Barnawi after that period.
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