ISWAP Founder’s Son Mahmud Surrenders in Maiduguri

Expert in counterterrorism and insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin, Zagazola Makama, revealed this on Tuesday in a post on his X account.

Mahmud, a middle-ranking warrior for Boko Haram, admitted to participating in attacks in Bama, Banki, Gwoza, and multiple other locations, according to the security expert’s report.

Makama claimed to have received intelligence reports confirming Mahmud’s status as the elder son of the late ISWAP founder, following profiling at the NSCDC Command Headquarters in Maiduguri.

According to the security expert, after learning that he was prepared to formally turn himself in to the Nigerian government, men of the command helped him surrender through his uncle in Gamborun Ngala.

Makama further revealed that he was being transported to Maiduguri by a trustworthy agent.

“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 added.