Nigeria has dealt a major blow to the Al-Qaeda-linked Ansaru terror network with the capture of two of its most wanted commanders.
Announcing the development in Abuja on Saturday, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu said Mahmud Muhammad Usman, better known as Abu Bara’a, and Mahmud al-Nigeri, also called Mallam Mamuda, were apprehended during a months-long, intelligence-led operation.
Ribadu described Abu Bara’a as the “Emir of Ansaru” and mastermind of the group’s nationwide sleeper cells, while Mamuda served as his deputy and head of the notorious “Mahmudawa” faction — operating around the Kainji National Park.
“These two men have been on Nigeria’s most-wanted list for years and are also wanted internationally,” the NSA told reporters. “Their arrest represents one of the most decisive blows against Ansaru since it surfaced in 2012.”
The duo, Ribadu said, trained in Libya under foreign jihadist instructors and jointly orchestrated numerous attacks across Northern Nigeria, targeting civilians, security personnel and strategic assets.
He linked them to headline-grabbing operations including the 2022 Kuje prison break, the attack on a Niger uranium site, the 2013 abduction of French engineer Francis Collomp in Katsina, and the May 2019 kidnapping of Magajin Garin Daura, Alhaji Musa Umar Uba.
“They were also behind the abduction of the Emir of Wawa and maintained active links with terrorist groups across the Maghreb,” he added.
According to him, the arrests — made between May and July 2025 — have resulted in the collapse of Ansaru’s central command structure.
Materials and digital evidence seized from the suspects are now undergoing forensic evaluation to expose the rest of the group’s networks in Nigeria and the wider Sahel region.
“The fall of Ansaru’s leadership signals the beginning of the end of impunity for terrorist leaders in Nigeria,” Ribadu declared. “We will continue to pursue extremists with precision and unwavering determination.”
He credited President Bola Tinubu for the strategic backing that enabled the operation and praised Nigeria’s armed forces, intelligence agencies and other stakeholders whose coordinated efforts led to the breakthrough.
