Ohanaeze tasks FG on new terror group as Kebbi lawmakers decry killing of 15 constituents

• DSS maintains silence

Ohanaeze Ndigbo has urged the Federal Government to crush the new terrorist group, Lakurawa, in the Northwest region, saying that the lives of easterners within the zone were in danger.

The group also asked the military to ensure that the group was flushed to allow citizens to live in peace and carry out their legitimate businesses.

In a statement by the Secretary-General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, yesterday in Kaduna, the body stated: “Ohanaeze Ndigbo, as the apex socio-cultural organisation representing the Igbo people, finds it imperative to address with the utmost urgency the disturbing rise of a new terrorist entity known as LAKURAWA.”

According to him, ‘operating primarily in Kebbi and Sokoto states, this group poses an imminent threat not just to the fabric of local governance, but more critically, to the lives and livelihoods of Igbo compatriots, who reside in the Northwest.”

BESIDES, the Senator Muhammad Adamu Aliero-led National Assembly members from Kebbi State have decried the murder of 15 of their constituents in Argungu by the new terror Jihadist group, ‘Lakurawa’, operating in Sokoto and Kebbi states.

The group, from the Sahelian countries of Mali and Niger, is currently under military watch after nine of its leaders were declared wanted by Defence Headquarters last Thursday in Abuja.

The condolence visit was facilitated by the former governor Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Aliero told newsmen yesterday that the trip was to physically be in the state to commiserate with families of the bereaved, as well as the government and the peaceful people of the state over the sad incident.

Describing activities of the new group as bad, deplorable and worrisome, Aliero said it portended grave dangers to the peace and tranquillity of the affected places and the entire nation.

HOWEVER, the Department of State Services (DSS) has declined comments on allegations that it had prior intelligence on ‘Lakurawa’.

National Publicity Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Prof Tukur, had alleged that the secret police knew about its existence long ago and failed to act.

The Guardian used the approved DSS telephone channel for enquiries, but there was no response. All messages sent were not responded to.

Recall that the secret police had gone covertly since the emergence of the new Director-General, Tobin Ajayi.

They had however made a public phone number 09088373515 for newsmen to send queries and get responses.
According to Tukur, the Lakurawa terror group, in some parts of northern Nigeria, is not new.

He also said that at some point, around 2017, the DSS and the group reached a deal to leave peacefully or be attacked.