Maiduguri, Nigeria – Mohammed Abdulhamid raises what remains of his fingers to greet passers-by outside his home in Ajilari, a neighbourhood on the edge of Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria.The gesture is awkward. Most of the fingers on his right hand were mutilated during a gang attack in 2023, a permanent reminder of a life he says was consumed by violence.He no longer remembers his age. But he remembers that evening.“The gang that attacked me were taking revenge, and just like how the breeze blows every tree leaf, I can’t remember how many people I have also attacked before that evening,” Mohammed told Al Jazeera.Unable to return to his work as a contract carpenter, Mohammed now spends his days trying to stop teenagers from making the same choices he did.“Having understood the consequences, I now ensure our younger ones stay away from fighting because it’s difficult to leave once you get into it,” he says.For years, youth gangs known locally as “Marlians” have terrorised neighbourhoods across Maiduguri and neighbouring Jere. Armed with knives, axes, machetes and locally made weapons, rival groups fought over territory, leaving residents trapped between fear and retaliation.The violence escalated to the point that in 2023, Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum ordered a widespread crackdown on the gangs after a series of deadly clashes. As the groups grew, residents accused members of using commercial tricycles to snatch ph …
