Nigerian army has arrested Ansaru Al-Barnawi, leader of Islamist militant group, a splinter faction of Boko Haram, accused of kidnapping and killing Westerners.
Defense spokesman, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar said al-Barnawi was arrested in Lokoja, the capital of the central state of Kogi at the weekend. “We have made that giant stride,” said Abubakar.
He said, “I can confirm that he (Al-barnawi) is in custody. It is a product of the existing synergy among the security agencies which led to this breakthrough in the war on terror. We have just confirmed that he has been nabbed and he is with the relevant agencies and as time goes, people would know how this kind of person was nabbed.”
”He has been arrested and he is with the relevant agencies and he is cooperating with giving information. He is the second-in-command as far as the Boko Haram hierarchy is concerned. So their days are numbered by the grace of God”, he added.
In 2012 the U.S. State Department named Ansaru leader Khalid al-Barnawi one of three Nigerian militants blacklisted for ties to Boko Haram and al-Qaeda’s north African wing.
He also said some Boko Haram fighters had surrendered to Nigerian troops.
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has made it a priority of his government to defeat Islamist militancy in Africa’s most populace nation, which also has the continent’s biggest economy.
