Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) claimed its first attack in Nigeria on 28 October. The strike, in the north of Kwara State near the Benin border, left one soldier dead. The Sahel-based group says it seized weapons, equipment and cash.
The context: a jihadi group on the move
This unprecedented attack on Nigerian soil shows JNIM’s push to expand. Until now it has operated in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. The group, led by Iyad Ag Ghaly, said in June it intended to set up a katiba – a brigade – in Nigeria.
Kwara State, in the North-Central region, is strategically placed and shares notoriously porous borders with Benin. In recent months JNIM has stepped up attacks on Beninese territory, and they have grown in scale. Its preferred area of operations for fighters coming from Burkina Faso and Niger has been the W and Pendjari national parks in northern Benin. This time, JNIM struck near Benin’s eastern borders.
“Warning signs have been there for a long time, and are multiplying as the group extends its reach towards the Gulf of Guinea,” says Taiwo Hassan Adebayo, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). “Several Nigerian states share porous, poorly guarded borders with Benin and Niger. Unfortunately, few measures have been taken.”
The claim of responsibility comes as Nigeria’s security apparatus is under heavy strain. President Bola Tinubu last week carried out a sweeping shake-up of the military leadership: the chief of defence staff and the heads of the army, navy and air force were replaced.
Lieutenant-General Olufemi Oluyede, appointed army chief on 24 October, immediately warned of persistent challenges. “We all know resources are insufficient,” he told the National Assembly on 29 October. That shortfall, he said, “makes it very difficult … to continue the war against terrorists and bandits”.
Why it matters
Nigeria is a tinderbox. The army is already fighting on several fronts – against Islamic State-affiliated jihadists, splinter factions of Boko Haram and countless bandit groups. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the past two years, according to an Amnesty International report published in May.
For journalist Taiwo Hassan Adebayo, the authorities need to grasp the scale of the threat. “Nigeria must act fast before the problem worsens. JNIM can sow chaos by tapping into armed-group networks,” he says.