Sadiku

Abubakar Saidu (born Adamu Yunusa), better known by his nom de guerre Sadiku or Mallam Sadiku, is a Nigerian Islamist militant who is a senior member of Boko Haram. The leader of one of Boko Haram's most prominent factions, he was a key figure in the group's expansion outside of northeast Nigeria.

Originally sent to Niger State by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in 2014 to secure the loyalty of the exiled Salafi jihadist Darul Islam movement, he formed a militant cell in the state that expanded over time. Sadiku's faction has formed numerous alliances, including with local bandits and the Christian-majority Gbaygi people. His faction has been responsible for numerous attacks and kidnappings in the region, most famously the Abuja–Kaduna train attack which the group gained millions of dollars from. It has also been implicated in attacks such as the Papiri kidnapping and the 2026 Kwara State attacks.

Biography An ethnic Babur, Sadiku was born in Biu, Borno State. A Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps document said that his birth name was Adamu Yunusa. Other sources reported his real name as Abubakar Saidu. He has a degree in Western and Islamic education. The Combating Terrorism Center wrote that it was unlikely that Sadiku was a member of Darul Salem. After Bitri died, Shekau dispatched a delegation headed by Sadiku to ensure his death would not disrupt the expanding relationship with gangs allied with Bitri. The delegation helped secure a treaty with the gangs. Around 2020, Shekau appointed Sadiku as his envoy to Darul Salem to negotiate the group's allegiance. During this time, he taught its members how to make explosives. Shekau dispatched Sadiku to Niger in 2020, where he built two bases on the border of Niger and Kaduna State that were manned by recruits from Darul Salem.

Since Shekau's death in 2021, Sadiku has pledged allegiance to the new leader of Boko Haram, Bakura Doro. International Crisis Group, citing a former affiliate of Sadiku, reported that Sadiku initially denounced Bakura's killing of Boko Haram imam Sahalaba, but later swore his allegiance. Sadiku has performed favors on behalf of numerous jihadists, including Ansaru, ISWAP, and Bakura. He reportedly helped both ISWAP and Bakura's fighters relocate from northeast Nigeria to the northwest. He was seriously injured in 2022. Between October and November that year, Sadiku ordered the execution of several jihadists who joined his faction after escaping during the Kuje prison break, fearing they were ISWAP spies since the prison break was conducted by the group.

Sadiku's faction

Sadiku's faction had initially operated in the Allawa forest of Shiroro, Niger State. The group expanded to the Borgu area of Kainji National Park. The faction also launched efforts to recruit Gbagyi people, who are indigenous to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and had been displaced en masse due to the expansion of Abuja. The faction entered the village of Kurebe in 2020, where they preached to its children. They started forcefully marrying girls from the village, including at least five minors who were married to some of Sadiku's lieutenants and were treated as sex slaves. The group also recruited at least two minors into its ranks. The faction's presence made the village a target of Nigerian Air Force (NAF) operations, which killed several civilians. Despite this, the Institute for Security Studies reported in July that Bakura was possibly mediating a deal between the two groups. Since July 2025, parts of the faction began moving to the Kainji National Park, followed by an increase in attacks and raids against villages on the Niger–Kwara border. Following the arrest of senior jihadist Mallam Mahmuda in mid-2025, some his men defected to Sadiku, while others fled to neighboring Benin. On 21 November 2025, Sadiku's men reportedly abducted over 300 schoolchildren from the St. Mary's Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State. Vincent Foucher of the French National Centre for Scientific Research said that the attack was conducted in order to finance the relocation of his men.

Sadiku's faction was likely behind a February 2026 massacre in the villages of Woro and Nuku, Kwara State, that killed at least 170 people; the residents had rejected their demands to adopt Sharia law and rebel against Nigeria. Approximately a month prior, his men killed 30 people and abducted several others during a raid on Kasuwan Daji, Niger.