Jihadists plotting attacks on Abuja airport, prison — International Media reports

Jihadist groups are plotting attacks on the Abuja airport and a prison facility on the outskirts of Nigeria’s capital, according to an internal memo prepared by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and seen by AFP on Thursday.

The memo, dated April 13, called for an “enhanced level of security within the Federal Capital Territory and its environs” after the agency received what it described as a credible report that Boko Haram and its rival splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), were planning a series of coordinated attacks.

According to the document, potential targets include the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Kuje prison in Abuja, and the Wawa military prison in neighbouring Niger State.

Kuje prison was previously attacked in 2022 when ISWAP fighters staged a major jailbreak that led to the escape of hundreds of inmates, including terror suspects.

The memo stated that ISWAP operatives had already infiltrated the Federal Capital Territory to facilitate the planned attacks.

It also alleged that the proposed attack on the Wawa military prison was being coordinated by Boko Haram’s Niger State cell in collaboration with Ansaru and the Al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), active in the Sahel region.

Authorities in Kuje Area Council had earlier imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in at least four villages after intelligence reports warned of a possible assault on the prison.

The document further linked the plot against Abuja airport to recent attacks on aviation facilities in neighbouring Niger Republic, including an incident in Niamey reportedly claimed by Islamic State Sahel Province.

Nigeria has battled insurgency since 2009, with Boko Haram and ISWAP intensifying attacks in the North-East in recent months.

The conflict has claimed more than 40,000 lives and displaced around two million people, according to United Nations figures.