Two suspected fighters of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) were arrested in Lagos State on Sunday, 21 December, PREMIUM TIMES can report.
The suspects—Modu Gana and Ibrahim Dugge—were apprehended by operatives of the State Security Services (SSS).
A security source with direct knowledge of the arrests told this newspaper that Messrs Gana and Dugge were arrested in Apapa, Lagos.
“They were arrested around 8:45 am on Sunday,” the source said, adding the suspects have been detained for interrogation.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the arrests followed intelligence that the suspects fled from the insurgency-ravaged North-east to Lagos.
When contacted, an official from the SSS’s media unit stated that the arrests had not been brought to their attention. Since redeploying the former spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, the agency has adopted a covert media policy, saying this will help perform its intelligence functions effectively.
The suspects’ mission in Lagos was not clear as of press time. There are no indications, so far, that they were planning an attack in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. However, experts say that ISWAP has been making efforts to expand beyond the North-east.
Nigeria’s war against insurgents
The Boko Haram insurgency has lingered for over 15 years. With two internal divisions that forced two factions to break apart in 2012 and 2016, the war has now gone beyond the BAY (Borno, Adamawa and Yobe) states, which have suffered the insurgency the most.
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While the insurgents have killed thousands of Nigerians and forcibly evicted millions from their homes, security forces have also intensified offensives against them.
In May, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, revealed that 13,543 Boko Haram and ISWAP insurgents have been killed while 124,408 others surrendered in two years of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
