Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, has announced the arrest of two internationally wanted terror leaders, describing it as a landmark success in the fight against insurgency.
The captured men, identified as Mahmud Muhammad Usman (Abu Bara’a) and his deputy, Mahmud al-Nigeria (Mallam Mamuda), were seized in an intelligence-driven operation carried out between May and July 2025.
“These are leaders of Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan, commonly known as ANSARU, Nigeria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate,” Ribadu disclosed. He revealed that Abu Bara’a was the mastermind behind a series of kidnappings and armed robberies used to fund terrorism, while Mamuda operated training and logistics networks across West Africa.
Their record of violence includes the 2022 Kuje prison attack, the kidnapping of French engineer Francis Collomp in 2013, and multiple strikes on Nigerian security institutions.
“The successful decapitation of the leadership of this dangerous franchise marks the most decisive blow against ANSARU since its inception,” Ribadu said.