Anxiety has reportedly swept through parts of Lagos following the arrest of two men suspected to be members of the Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP.
The suspects, identified as Modu Gana and Ibrahim Dugge, were said to have been apprehended on Sunday, December 21, by operatives of the State Security Service.
Security sources disclosed that the arrests took place around 8:45 a.m. in the Apapa area of the state, after intelligence reports tracked the suspects to Lagos.
According to the sources, both individuals are currently being held in custody and are undergoing interrogation by security operatives.
Investigations indicate that the arrests were triggered by intelligence suggesting that the suspects had recently moved from Nigeria’s violence-prone North-east region to Lagos.
Attempts to get official confirmation from the SSS were unsuccessful, as officials in the agency’s media unit reportedly said the development had not yet been formally relayed to them.
The agency has kept a low public profile since the redeployment of its former spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, a move it previously attributed to operational considerations.
As at the time of this report, the reason for the suspects’ presence in Lagos has not been established, and there is no immediate indication that they were planning attacks in the state.
However, security experts have cautioned that ISWAP has been making efforts to expand its operations beyond its traditional bases in the North-east, raising fresh security concerns.
