New report raises alarm over  presence of 22 Islamic terror groups  amidst counter-insurgency gains

A leading human rights group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) recently released  frightening figures chillingly indicating that upwards of 22 Islamic terrorist groups have established headquarters in Nigeria, with close to 200,000 defenseless Nigerian lives lost to terrorist attacks in the past 16 years.

The statistics made available  in a Special Report released by Intersociety in Enugu, South Eastern Nigeria, on Sunday, August 10, 2025  was signed by the group’s Head, Criminologist Emeka Umeagbalasi; Head of Publicity, Barr Chidinma Udegbunam; Deputy Head of Int’l Justice and Human Rights, Barr Ogoo Obi; Head, Dept. of Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esquire; and Head, Field Data Collection and Documentation Department, Comrade Samuel Kamanyaoku.

In the Special Report, Intersociety made the following pleas: Designation of Nigeria as “a Country of Particular Concern and Jihadist-Fulani Herdsmen, and Jihadist-Fulani Bandits as Entities of Particular Concern,“ particularly by Government of the United States under President Donald Trump, and similar punitive measures by EU, UK, and Canadian leaders.

The Group noted that such designation is not only belated and long overdue, but that all the first class Fulani Muslim Emirs, and top Islamic clerics and leaders, including those of the MACABAN must be banned from traveling to Religious Freedom respecter countries, including U.S, Canada, UK, France, Germany, and other members of the European Union.

According to Intersociety, these powerful economies and democracies must also review hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of annual humanitarian, democracy, military, and development assistance to Nigeria and have them tied to religious freedom, as a condition for further assistance to the country and its leaders, insisting that they must rise to the occasion by respecting and protecting Fundamental Human Rights to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion.

Religious and Ethnic War

Nigerian leaders must also internationally be compelled to decisively deal with Jihadist-Fulani herdsmen including holding them accountable for massacring average of 6000 Christians annually”.

The report has once again renewed calls for drastic action on terrorists, bandits, and killer herdsmen. These calls have become more strident following renewed attacks in Plateau, Borno, Katsina and Zamfara, Kwara, Niger, Benue and Kogi.

Concerned about the renewed vigour of the bandits and Islamic insurgencies, former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (retd.), has urged the federal government to consider a nationwide mobilization similar to the COVID-19 lock-down to defeat terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping.

Buratai, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily last Friday, said that allowing insurgency to continue to linger was dangerous for the country, hence the need to invest in tackling the problem.

“We can lock down this country to make sure everybody concentrates and deals with this cankerworm called terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, and so on,” he said.

Community resilience, involving collaboration among political, traditional, and religious leaders, was needed to find lasting solutions to address insecurity in Nigeria, the former army chief said.

Buratai recalled his previous warnings about the prolonged nature of the conflict, citing also the example of the Maiduguri flood, where the country came together to support the affected people, as a model for mobilizing resources to tackle insecurity.

He said: “If you can remember, just before I left office, and of course immediately when I left office, I was appointed ambassador of Republic of Benin, I sent a lot of warning that this insurgency may last longer. I don’t want to quote the number of years that I mentioned, but I said it will last longer. It is a sort of warning that we really need to have a long-term plan, it is not something that you will just wish away.

Last week, the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. General Christopher Musa came up with a different perspective on the renewed attacks, blaming it on the power struggle for 2027 elections, saying ambitious politicians are determined to discredit the government so that they can use insecurity as a campaign.

A security expert Ifeanyi Obinali has urged the federal government to use sophisticated technology, kinetic and non kinetic approaches to fight insecurity. He noted that if government was truly serious it would have deployed technology to track down locations, where bandits and other outlaws are domiciled.

Professor Ayodeji Bankole, a sociologist with expertise in security studies, told Business Hallmark that “the best way to fight is to deploy technology to track down their locations, but what I have seen is a lack of political will to confront insecurity.”

This view was corroborated by Moyo Adebayo, another expert in security,  informed Business Hallmark that “the Nigerian Army can defeat insurgencies and bandits, including herdsmen in two months, but where is the political will?” he said.

According to him military top brass and others are benefiting from the prolonged conflict since it has become a big business, “The defence budget, who monitors it;  there is a limit to oversights by the National Assembly, of course, you know what I’m saying.”

More Gains By Troops

In spite of the spike in terror attacks, the security operatives have made impressive gains in the past weeks. Only two weeks ago, the  Nigerian Air Force (NAF) said it had unleashed an unyielding air onslaught against terrorist elements in the North-East, killing no fewer than 592 fighters and obliterating 372 enemy assets in eight months, a tempo of operations already outstripping the entirety of 2024.

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar, revealed these figures in Maiduguri on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, during a courtesy visit to Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum.

The highlights of the recent wins of the armed forces is the capture three weeks ago of the Ansaru terrorist leaders.

This much was  given confirmation  following an announcement by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.

According to Ribadu, the leaders of Jama’atuAnsarulMuslimina fi-Biladis Sudan, commonly known as Ansaru, were captured in a “high-risk, intelligence-led, counter-terrorism operation” conducted between May and July 2025.

He said Mahmud Muhammad Usman, identified as the self-styled Emir of Ansaru, was the coordinator of various terrorist sleeper cells across Nigeria, and the mastermind of numerous high-profile kidnappings and armed robberies used to finance the group’s operations.

Ribadu added that his Deputy, Mahmud al-Nigeri, led the group’s “Mahmudawa” cell, which operates around the Kainji National Park area, a region straddling Niger and Kwara states, and extending into the Benin Republic.

Apart from the human tolls in lives, the insurgency has also become a major financial drain on public resources. In the past five years, defense has consumed over N8 trillion of national budget. A break down is as follows:

2020, N899.911 billion; 2021, N961.802bn; 2022, N985.752bn; 2023, N1.59 9 trillion (including supplementary budget); 2024, N1.578 trillion, and 2025, N2.341 trillion;

Similarly, a whopping N8.76trillion has been allocated to Nigeria Police Force since 2010.

Many Nigerians spoken to by Business Hallmark are in a state of fears and apprehension over the report of the presence of over 22 terror groups, fearing the worst.

Peju Ademola, a civil servant told Business Hallmark that ” Before you know it, these terror groups will metasize into a huge security challenge. Government should do something urgent.

Dr. Anthony Adeniran, a political scientist told this medium that

“These  22 embryonic and full grown Islamic Terror Groups in Africa  have  links, or potential links to ISIS, ISIL and World Jihad Fund. The 22 Islamic Terror Groups, presently using Nigeria as their safe haven, are also seeking to obliterate or wipe out Christians and  Traditional Religionists, particularly in the North.

Ugly Statistics

Intersociety notes that “Our further study also showed that no fewer than 19,100 churches have been attacked including being sacked, or closed down, or burned down, or razed, or destroyed, and converted to Islamic centers. This number had increased from estimated 13,000 churches attacked between July 2009 and end of 2015 to 19,100; recording a shocking addition of no fewer than 6,100 between January 2016 and August 10, 2025; during which no fewer than 11 Catholic Dioceses and many of their parishes and outstations in Northern Nigeria were attacked, shut, and deserted. The above is according to credible multiple sources highlighted in this Report.

Also, “No fewer than 500 Christian clerics were attacked and abducted in the past 16 years, including the abduction of 160 Catholic Priests, and captivity and killing of eleven others including Seminarians from 2015 to August 10, 2025.

“No fewer than 1,100 Christian communities, particularly in the North were sacked by Fulani-led Islamic Jihadists, and their ancestral lands, measuring about 20,000 square miles seized and occupied, out of which the worst hit States are Plateau, Benue, Niger, Southern Kaduna, Abuja hinterland (.i.e. Abaji), Taraba, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Nasarawa and Kogi; with Edo.