ISWAP Executes 4 Civilians Accused Of Spying For Troops Fighting In Lake Chad

At Least four civilians suspected of helping the government forces with information around Lake Chad have been tried and executed by members of the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP). 

Reliable sources familiar with the sad development said ISWAP fighters executed the four males after a “Kangaroo trial” on Friday, March 1.

The source, who is a member of the Borno state-owned Civilian-JTF, a vigilante group organised to support the military’s war against Boko Haram, listed those executed to include one  Adamu Guga, from Doron Baga, Ba’ana Moto Kura from Dabangiwa Dawashi, Hamisu Dan Gora, from Monguno, and Malam Jubril, from Daban Gajere, all in Kukawa Local Government Areas of Borno State. 

The source said the four were summarily executed after an ISWAP Court Judge, Muhammed Maina, found them guilty of acts that tend to sabotage their operations in favour of the military. 

HumAngle learnt that the Court found  Hamisu Dangora, a former member of the Civilian Joint Task Force in Monguno, guilty of allegedly “extorting” from Fulani herdsmen who normally herd their animals through a checkpoint he supervises along the route leading to their Daula. 

“Adamu Guga, who was also a member of the Civilian JTF, was executed for not sharing the exact location where a large stock of  arms and ammunition had sunk in the water after a military airstrike in the axis of Kukawa hit their truck recently.

“The judge said Guga attempted stealing the arms from the  Daula (caliphate) to convey the same to the Nigeria military in Baga before soldiers of the Khalifa blocked him.”

The source also revealed that Jubril, a former active member of the Boko Haram before he repented and moved to the government side, was accused of returning to the Daula as a spy for the military. 

The judge pronounced the death sentence upon Ba’ana, who was accused of colluding with two others at large in “attempts to destroy an Isuzu vehicle belonging to the soldiers of Khalifa (ISWAP). 

The two at large managed to escape, but Ba’ana was unlucky. ISWAP fighters stormed the scene and apprehended him. 

The source said the four executed persons had earlier served seven months of jail terms at the ISWAP Prison located in Jabullam, Marte Local Government Area of Borno State, before their final trial and subsequent execution.

Since the death of Abubakar Shekau in 2021, at least 50,000 members of Boko Haram loyal to the dead terror leader have surrendered and abandoned the over a decade old struggle and surrendered to the government of Nigeria. 

ISWAP had been deploying all strategies, including death threats, to prevent Boko Haram defectors from remaining in the forests and not surrendering. Vexed ISWAP commanders had executed several Boko Haram defectors and declared those who had crossed over as their enemies.