May 18, (THEWILL) – A radical preacher and leader of Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād (JAS), Boko Haram terrorists’ group, Alhaji Ari-Difinoma, has surrendered to troops of the Nigerian Army.
THEWILL gathered that Ari-Difinoma surrendered to the troops of 21 Special Armoured Brigade Bama, Operation Hadin Kai, on May 16, 2022.
Military sources told Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency expert and security analyst in Lake Chad, that Ari-Difinoma, was forced out of his hideout following sustained bombardment by troops of Operation Hadin Kai.
The sources said his surrender was also pushed by the infighting between the Boko Haram and its rival faction, the Islamic State of the West African Province (ISWAP).
It was gathered that ISWAP had launched a surprised attack against the Boko Haram at Ukuba, a camp that had been repeatedly destroyed by the Nigerian troops, but reoccupied by the terrorists, forcing the insurgents to flee.
The sources said Ari-Difinoma and others ran to hide in a small village located in Mantari, within the axis of Bama local government, but were forced out of their hideout by hunger and unending artillery bombardments by the Nigerian troops.
“It was at that point that Ari-Difinoma decided to abandon the rest of his colleagues and ran out to surrender himself”, the sources said.
Alhaji Ari-Difinoma, an indigene of Monguno in Borno State, who ran one of the radicalisation schools in Ukuba Camp in Sambisa Forest under the Darul-Qur’an, has recruited many children and youths through teaching of extremists’ ideologues in the past 10 years.
Over 52,000 members of Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists comprising fighters, including those conscripted and their families, have so far surrendered to the troops.
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