The Nigerian Army has revealed that indigents of the North-East are donating their daughters and other children to Boko Haram to carry out suicide bombings.
The Army has appealed to Northern elders to persuade parents to stop this practice in order to cut off the flow of human capital to the dreaded terror sect.
The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, in a statement said, “The Nigerian Army wishes to appeal to religious, traditional and community leaders, as well as all well-meaning Nigerians, especially in the North-East of our country, to help dissuade people from donating their daughters or wards to Boko Haram terrorists for indoctrination and suicide bombing missions.
“This appeal became expedient in view of recent revelations by some intercepted female suicide bombers during interrogations. It was discovered that most of these hapless minors were ‘donated’ to the terrorist sect by their heartless and misguided parents and guardians, as part of their contribution to the perpetuation of the Boko Haram terrorists’ dastardly acts against the Nigerian society and humanity.
“The acts of these parents and guardians are not only barbaric, but condemnable and unacceptable. Nigerians have a responsibility and obligation to collectively mould our children and wards.
“Consequently, members of the public are kindly requested to be more vigilant, security conscious and report any suspicious persons or those whose daughters or female wards are missing or have not been seen recently. The public is also kindly reminded that the Nigerian Army’s offer and reward of N500,000 to anybody that brings information about suicide bombing is still available.”
Investigations have uncovered that Boko Haram used 145 girls for suicide attacks in seven months.
According to information gleaned from Nigeria military intelligence and published by Punch, the terrorists deployed the girls strapped with locally made Improvised Explosive Devices were, internally displaced persons camps and villages.
It was learnt that the most affected areas where the radicalised girls struck in the seven months included Muna Garage, Mammanti village, Jiddari Polo, Ummarari and Dalori, all in Borno State.
A breakdown of the statistics showed that in January, at least 15 girls died, while 10 casualties were recorded in February.
Also, there were estimated 15 deaths of the female bombers for March, April and May.
June and July, however, witnessed an upsurge and claimed about 30 girls each.
Leave a Reply