ISWAP founder’s son protests father’s betrayal and execution, surrenders in Borno
Mahmud Albarnawy, the eldest son of the founder of the Islamic State of the West African Province, Mamman Nur, has surrendered himself to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.
The 22-year-old was said to have surrendered in the early hours of Sunday after confiding in an unnamed uncle in Gamborun Ngala about his decision to surrender to the Federal Government.
According to a post by security analyst, Zagazola Makama, on X on Tuesday, Albarnawy was confirmed to be the son of the late ISWAP founder after undergoing profiling at the command headquarters of the NSCDC in Maiduguri.
Makama quoted a source as saying, “The command facilitated his surrender through his uncle in Gamborun Ngala after receiving the information that he was willing to formally surrender to the Nigerian government. A reliable agent was sent to convey him to Maiduguri.
“They arrived in Maiduguri on May 11 at about 1 pm. Mahmud was later debriefed and profiled by an intelligence officer of the command, where he confessed to having sneaked out of the Ali Ngulde camp in Mandara Mountain, Gwoza LG, into Maiduguri and stayed for about a month at Gwange in the city capital before relocating to Gamboru Ngala without any alarm or distress signs from communities.
“During his stay in Gamboru Ngala, some of his late father’s loyalists were persuading him to return to the Lake Chad general area to pay allegiance to ISWAP, but he refused, citing the betrayal and eventual execution of his late father.”
He was said to have confessed to having taken part in attacks in Bama, Banki, Gwoza, and several other places as a middle-rank fighter under the Boko Haram group.
However, Mahmud was handed over to the Bulunkutu rehabilitation facility for further documentation and custody.
In 2013, top commanders of the late founder of the Boko Haram group, Muhammad Yusuf, including Mamman Nur, Khalid Albarnawi, Abubakar Shekau, Kaka Ali, Mustapha Chad, Abu Maryam, and Abu Krimima, were compelled to move out of Maiduguri, following an intensified campaign against them by the Joint Security Forces in Maiduguri.
After a while, they regrouped in the Sambisa forest and continued their campaign of violence through coordinated attacks on towns and villages. They institutionalised the group to become a terror organisation.
In March 2015, Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the ISIS Caliphate of Abubakar Al-Baghdadi. ISIS accepted the pledge of allegiance and named Abubakar Shekau as the first Wali of the ISWAP.
Shekau was later removed by ISIS following a petition against his leadership by Mamman Nur and Abu Mussab Albarawi, who were members of the Shura Consultative Council.
Shekau was accused of ideological extremism, extrajudicial killings, injustice, poor leadership skills and, above all, killing women and children.
The internal crises led to the separation of the Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, Boko Haram group, and the ISWAP, who moved to the Lake Chad region of Marte and Abadam to establish their caliphate with Mamman Nur as its new spiritual leader.
On August 21, 2018, Mamman Nur was eliminated in a mutiny led by Abou Mossab Albarnawyy in the company of some ISWAP fighters.
Nur was killed for releasing the Government Girls Secondary School Dapchi girls without demanding ransom from the Federal Government.
