Nigeria, Aug. 20 -- Nineteen-year-old Ba Gado still remembers the chaotic night of 30 October 2022.

Motivated by the successful Kuje prison break led by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a joint team of jihadists (from Nigeria and the Sahel) stormed the Wawa military detention facility in a bid to free their captured comrades. Soldiers repelled the attack, but for Mr Gado and his community, that night marked the beginning of a nightmare that would engulf the hundreds of communities surrounding the Kainji National Park.

A year earlier, the warning signs had already appeared. Rangers working with the park stumbled into a group of bandits during a routine patrol. One of them, Tanko, was killed, while several others were wounded, ...