With Rimande Shawulu
Last week, 60 people were taken from a mosque in Niger State during Friday prayers by a group called Lakurawa.
Lakurawa entered Nigeria from Mali in 2017. The US bombed their camps in Sokoto on Christmas Day 2025.
In February this year, they killed 162 people in Kwara State — after warning the village with letters two weeks before.
Please watch this:
On August 21, 2026, Lakurawa-linked fighters stormed mosques in Borgu, Niger State during Friday prayers — abducting more than 60 worshippers and posting a video of the captives online. Most Nigerians still don’t know who Lakurawa is.
This video changes that.
This video also covers the arrival of JNIM — Al-Qaeda’s Sahel affiliate — which claimed its first attack on Nigerian soil in October 2025, killing a soldier in Kwara State.
With the Islamic State operating through Lakurawa and ISWAP, and Al-Qaeda now present through JNIM, Nigeria faces two competing global jihadist franchises in the same border zone simultaneously — a situation with no precedent in the country’s security history.
Ndeya Live traces the full story: how Lakurawa entered Nigeria from Mali in 2017 as a vigilante force, became an Islamic State affiliate, survived a US airstrike on Christmas Day 2025, killed 162 people in Kwara State in February 2026, and is now operating in Niger State — 400 kilometres south of where it started.
We also ask the questions the mainstream conversation is avoiding: Is Nigeria’s northwest becoming a new northeast? Who actually carried out the Borgu attacks? And what does Lakurawa’s expansion mean for the 2027 elections? SOURCES:
- Institute for Security Studies (ISS Africa) — February 2026
- The Soufan Center IntelBrief — February 2026
- West Africa Maps security analysis — February 2026
- Wikipedia: Lakurawa, 2026 Kwara State attacks
- Daily Nigerian — Dr Hussaini Abdu analysis, August 2026
- Daily Trust / Vanguard — Borgu mosque attacks, August 2026
- Leadership Nigeria — Borgu attack report, August 2026
Now they are operating in Niger State, less than 400 kilometres from Abuja.
There is also a second group — Al-Qaeda’s affiliate — that carried out its first attack in Nigeria in October 2025. Most Nigerians know nothing about either group.
I put together a full video explaining the history, the operations, and what this means for 2027.
Please share this with people who need to understand what is happening.
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