A MAJOR intelligence shake-up is underway in the Sahel as security agencies in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso have announced plans to publish the names of Nigerian politicians allegedly backing terrorist groups operating in the country’s troubled northwest.
News Point Nigeria reports that counterinsurgency expert Zagazola Makama disclosed the development yesterday via his verified X handle, citing a translated post by DW Hausa.
According to him, Sahelian intelligence operatives confirmed that they are in possession of a list of powerful Nigerian figures accused of aiding the criminal networks that have wreaked havoc for more than a decade.
Officials further revealed that several individuals suspected of supplying arms to terrorist groups have already been arrested, with ongoing investigations expected to lead to more high-profile exposures.
The move forms part of a broader regional strategy aimed at dismantling cross-border terror and criminal networks that have flourished due to porous borders, arms trafficking, and weak state control.
For years, Nigeria’s northwest has been ravaged by mass killings, kidnappings for ransom, and relentless assaults on rural communities by armed groups often labeled as bandits.
Security experts have consistently warned that local complicity by influential actors has emboldened and sustained these groups.
The readiness of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso to reveal names of suspected Nigerian collaborators underscores both the regionalization of insecurity and a new phase of Sahelian cooperation in tackling insurgency.
It also signals a shift towards calling out external actors seen as enabling the violence.
A political expert, Lukman Mansur told News Point Nigeria that the disclosures, if carried out, could trigger political tremors in Nigeria and put additional pressure on FG to intensify counter-terrorism measures while clamping down on collaborators within its borders.
