The JAS is characterised by the use of more violent methods and continues to perpetrate systematic attacks against both Muslims and Christians

Insurgency waged by Boko Haram has deteriorated the security situation in Nigeria. According to the UN, more than 30,000 civilians and security personnel have been killed and nearly three million people displaced since July 2009 – when terrorism hit in the region.

In 2016, Boko Haram split into two groups: Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’adati wal-Jihad (JAS), led by Abubakar Shekau, and the Islamic State – West Africa (ISIS-WA), led by Abu Musab al Barnawi. Shekau’s faction, the JAS, tends to focus on north-eastern Nigeria. The JAS is characterised by the use of more violent methods and continues to perpetrate systematic attacks against both Muslims and Christians. Anyone who does not support the group is perceived as a supporter of the government and may be targeted. The group is more active near the border with Cameroon and it is present in South and Central Borno state.

According to the UNHCR Nigeria Monthly Protection Monitoring Report May-June 2020, published on August 7, the JAS intensified attacks on military targets in Bama-Banki, Gwoza and launched attacks on motorists on the Maiduguri-Damboa road, with two trucks conveying humanitarian aid caught in the middle, and Maiduguri-Damaturu main Supply routes. Raids on civilian populations and camps for food and other supplies were reported in Dikwa, Damboa and Biu.
On August 4, the JAS released a video which showed its members in the Lake Chad area, the Sambisa Forest in Nigeria’s Borno state, and in the country’s western Niger state observing the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. It shows about one hundred persons praying Eid in the heart of a bush before showing three fighters sending Eid greetings in Hausa, English and Fulfulde. “It is we the Jamahatu Ali Sunna li Dawatul Jihad in the location of Niger State. We want to send our Sallah salutation, first of all to our Imam, Abu Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Abubakar Shekau,” a terrorist, dressed in a Nigerian police uniform said.

In a January 1 video, Shekau alleged that “some brothers” – meaning fellow Islamist militants – had entreated him to allow them to join his faction. From June, the frequency of JAS messaging on this issue increased. On June 15, a JAS video in Fulfulde (the principal language of the Fulani ethnic group predominantly resident in north-west and north-central Nigeria) and French (spoken in neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso) again attempted to strengthen links between various cells across Nigeria. Another video followed shortly afterwards, on July 7, in which five speakers praised Shekau, allegedly from various locations, before the August 4 video emerged.

The recently released videos show that the JAS is now looking to expand its sphere its influence in northwest and north-central Nigeria. Communities in north-west and north-central Nigeria are becoming increasingly vulnerable to the JAS terror as terrorists are taking advantage of both the old and new local conflicts in these regions.