Lawmakers in Nigeria’s north-central Plateau state have alleged terrorists are planning to expand their territories by targeting traditional leaders known as “monarchs.” Terrorists fleeing airstrikes by the US-supported Nigerian military in the northwest region are attempting to foist a government of their own through kidnapping and assassination of local town leaders, according to lawmakers speaking to The Epoch Times. The terrorist gangs, until recently called bandits, are not believed to be formal allies of the Islamic State of West Africa or of the Al Qaeda-linked group called Ansaru. However, security analysts believe that the bandits and insurgents sometimes collaborate in crime schemes. Taking Over Towns Elements of the Boko Haram insurgency migrated some of its units to northwestern states two years ago, according to David Otto Endeley, an international crime specialist at the Geneva Centre for Security and Strategic Studies. In Sokoto state in Nigeria’s far northwest, terrorists began taking …