ISWAP Leader’s Son Surrenders to Nigerian Military

After attacking at Bama, Banki, and Gwoza, a mid-list Boko Haram fighter and son of an ISWAP leader has surrendered.

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps in Borno received and profiled Mahmud Albarnawy on May 12, counter-insurgency publication Zagazola Makama reported.

The profiling confirmed the 22-year-old Mahmud as the son of Maman Nur who splintered off Boko Haram, and stabilized ISWAP.

Mahmud didn’t just turn sober, though. His uncle at Gamboru Ngala encouraged him to surrender. The young terrorist had felt the group betrayed and executed his father, and saw no reason terrorising Nigeria again.

“A reliable agent was sent to convey him to Maiduguri. They arrived in Maiduguri on May 11 at about 1 pm,” the publication said.

He told the intelligence agent debriefing him how he sneaked out of the Ali Ngulde camp in Mandara Mountain, Gwoza LGA, into Maiduguri. His stay for a month at Gwange, Borno, attracted no attention until moved to Gamboru Ngala.

Some of his late father’s loyalists persuaded him to return to the Lake Chad area to pay allegiance to ISWAP. He refused, pointing at the group’s backstabbing of his father.

Defence authorities Mahmud have sent Mahmud to the Safe Corridor rehabilitation programme at Bulunkutu.

Mamman Nur didn’t share Boko Haram leader Abu Shekau’s brutality when they both led the homegrown terrorist group. Nur released the Dapchi girls Boko Haram kidnapped in 2014 and seemed more open to negotiations. That led to disputes and his break away, along with Yusuff al-Barnawi, the son of the late Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuff.

According to reports, ISWAP members loyal to Shekau later assassinated Nur.