The Eldest son of Mamman Nur, founder of the Islamic State of the West African Province (ISWAP), Mahmud Mamman Nur Albarnawy, has surrendered to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps in Maiduguri.
Mahmud, 22, surrendered on Sunday, May 12.
Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama, Lake Chad Basin counterterrorism and insurgency expert, that Mahmud Mamman Nur Albarnawy was confirmed to be the senior son of the late ISWAP founder after undergoing profiling at the Command Headquarters of NSCDC in Maiduguri.
The sources said that men of the command had 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 LGA, 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 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.
Mahmud was handed over to Bulunkutu rehabilitation facility for further documentation and custody.