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The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) says recent revelations by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), as published by Sahara Reporters, have vindicated its long-standing warnings about the existence of coordinated jihadist plots in Nigeria.

Intersociety had earlier raised alarm that Fulani jihadists, backed by a network of 22 Islamic terror groups, were pursuing a long-term strategy to impose a Sultanate across Nigeria by 2075. The rights group, in its latest special report released in August 2025, and signed by its Board Chairman and criminologist-researcher, Emeka Umeagbalasi, alleged that these terror groups aim to obliterate Christianity and indigenous cultural heritage with the backing of global jihad funds. The report warned that the plan includes exterminating an estimated 112 million Christians and 13 million traditional religionists, particularly in the South-East and South-South, within the next 50 years.

Earlier in June 2025, Intersociety had also released a chilling investigative report that identified 950 locations across 770–800 Igbo communities currently under occupation or threat of occupation by armed jihadist Fulani herdsmen and their allies. The report, titled “Research and Investigative Discovery of 950 Locations… Presently Under Occupation or Threats of Attack by Armed Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen”, alleged systematic territorial encroachment, religious violence, and government complicity. According to the group, approximately 40 percent of the 1,940 traditional Igbo communities are facing grave dangers of jihadist occupation, with dire implications for faith, ethnic identity, and territorial security.

While Intersociety’s findings had drawn both concern and skepticism, Sahara Reporters recently reported a major breakthrough by Nigerian authorities that appears to corroborate the rights group’s position. The online publication revealed that the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), led by Nuhu Ribadu, had successfully arrested two of Nigeria’s most wanted terrorists — Mahmud Muhammad Usman, also known as Abu Bara’a, and Mahmud al-Nigeri, also called Mallam Mamuda.

Ribadu disclosed that the arrests, carried out between May and July 2025 after months of intelligence-led operations, marked the most significant blow against the Al-Qaeda-linked Ansaru terrorist group since its inception. Abu Bara’a, described as the “Emir of Ansaru,” was responsible for coordinating sleeper cells across Nigeria and masterminding high-profile kidnappings and terrorist financing. His deputy, Mallam Mamuda, who trained in Libya between 2013 and 2015 under foreign jihadist instructors, led the Mahmudawa faction of Ansaru operating around Kainji National Park.

Ansaru, formally Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan, broke away from Boko Haram in 2012 and pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The group has been linked to several deadly attacks, including the 2022 Kuje prison break, the abduction of French engineer Francis Collomp in 2013, the 2019 kidnapping of Magajin Garin Daura, the abduction of the Emir of Wawa, and the deadly attack on a Niger uranium facility.

According to Ribadu, the arrests have effectively dismantled Ansaru’s central command and paved the way for its total annihilation. He further noted that caches of materials and digital evidence seized during the operation are undergoing forensic analysis, which is expected to provide deeper insights into the group’s networks across Nigeria and the Sahel.

Reacting to the development, Umeagbalasi said the ONSA report substantiates Intersociety’s long-standing warnings. “Please read this report carefully and place it side by side with our Sunday, August 10, 2025 Mother Report on the assemblage of 22 Islamic Terror Groups with Nigeria as their safest haven and their plots to obliterate Christianity by 2075,” he said.

“The latest Sahara Reporters’ publication was culled from Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. Compare it with our list of the 22 Islamic Terror Groups and see the accuracy of our investigations,” Umeagbalasi added.

He stressed that Intersociety’s investigative work is rooted in empiricism and statistical accuracy. “A saying goes that researchers and investigators are intellectual spirits who see what many, if not most, people hardly see until many years after their research. Always follow and believe us at Intersociety. We may not speak big grammar, but we slap professors of grammar with irrebuttable statistics,” he remarked.

Intersociety’s position highlights the persistent threat posed by jihadist terror groups in Nigeria, as well as the urgent need for vigilance and accountability in confronting what the group describes as a decades-long campaign to erase indigenous identities and Christian populations in the country.

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