The leader of the Jama’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihad (JAS), popularly known as the Boko Haram terrorist group, Alhaji Ari-Difinoma, has reportedly surrendered to the Nigerian Army.
Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency expert and security analyst in Lake Chad, reported that the radical preacher surrendered to the troops of 21 Special Armoured Brigade Bama, Operation Hadin Kai, on Monday, May 16, 2022, after he was forced out of his hideout following sustained bombardment by troops of Operation Hadin Kai.
There have been intensified infighting between Boko Haram and its rival faction, the Islamic State of the West African Province (ISWAP).
Zagazola noted that ISWAP terrorists had launched a surprise attack against Boko Haram at Ukuba, a camp that had been repeatedly destroyed by the Nigerian troops but reoccupied by the terrorists, forcing Boko Haram fighters to flee.
Sources told Zagazola that Ari-Difinoma and others ran to hide in a small village located in Mantari village, within the axis of Bama Local Government Area, but were forced out of their hideout by hunger and unending artillery bombardments by the Nigerian troops.
“It was at that point that Mr Ari-Difinoma decided to abandon the rest of his colleagues and ran out to surrender himself,” he said.
Alhaji Ari-Difinoma, who is an indigene of Monguno in Borno State, ran one of the radicalisation schools in Ukuba camp in Sambisa Forest under the Darul-Qur’an.
He has reportedly recruited many children and youths through his teaching of extremist ideologies in the past 10 years.
