• HURIWA urges investigation for culpability
The Sokoto Police command has confirmed the new terrorist group, Lakurawa, forcibly collecting cows from residents of some council areas in the state.
The group, which moves in large numbers, is also said to be fully armed.
Its emergence is said to have put the state on high alert.
Police authorities confirmed their presence, saying they are being closely monitored.
Spokesman of the state police command, Ahmad Rufai, told The Guardian that the force was keeping a close watch on them.
He said: “The ‘Lakurawa’, they are Toaregs from Niger and part of Chad, who came and took over the eastern part of the state or some local governments in some parts of the states. They came in as Islamic extremists. They fight the bandits and anybody who is doing contrary to what the Islamic religion supports.
“They kill bandits. If you have cows and animals, you must give alms of the cows to them, if not they will collect the alms from you by force. In a nutshell, they do not disturb the society, they only collect alms and fight the bandits. Although, they are religious extremists.
“They impose their lifestyle on society. They are armed and they are not like the bandits because they fight bandits. They go an extra mile in some of their activities, that is why the government is not okay with them.”
However, the National Coordinator of the Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA), Emmanuel Onwubiko, has noted: “The establishment of the so-called new group should be investigated to ascertain if some top military contractors and high-ranking military officers in Nigeria and some neighbouring nations who want to continue to benefit from the war on terror may be behind it.
“We think strongly that some top Generals in Nigeria and other West African regions may be behind the proliferation of terrorist groups in Nigeria and the region, which is why they are unwilling to vigorously fight the war on terror and defeat terrorists.
“The successful emergence of this armed group in Sokoto without the intelligence community detecting it shows a colossal failure of intelligence.
“The NIA and DSS should have a lot of explanations to do on this strategic failure of the intelligence gathering mechanism.”
