Arrested Boko Haram Commanders reveals how they Successfully Abducted Chibok Schoolgirls In 2014
Following the recent arrest of 22 members and commanders of the
Islamic sect, Boko Haram, by operatives of the Inspector General of
Police Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT, shocking revelations
have emerged on the murderous activities of the sect.
Cross section of the suspects
It was gathered that three commanders of the Civilian Joint Task
Force, an outfit created by the Borno State Government, to assist the
Nigeria Military in trailing and arresting members of the sect, were
among those arrested by the IRT, for giving out operational information
of the military to members of the sect.
Eight other suspects also confessed during interrogations that they
were part of the group that carried out the April 2014, kidnap of over
200 schoolgirls from a government secondary school, in Chibok area of
Borno State.
When Vanguard interviewed the suspects, some of the commanders,
foot soldiers and informants narrated their roles and the various tasks
executed for the group.
Attack on Chibok
Maita Alhaji Modu alias Abu, a 20-year-old Boko Haram commander
from Bama Local Government of Borno State, who was a farmer and had no
formal education confessed that he took an active part in the 2014
kidnap of Chibok schoolgirls and he was equally responsible for moving
young girls who were used for suicide bombings from Sambisa Forest into
Maiduguri Town.
He said as a commander, he had been fighting for the sect since
2011 and assisted the group in taking over several towns, villages. He
said he also participated in ambush attacks across the Northeastern
states of Nigeria and some parts of Niger, Chad and Cameroon. He
disclosed that the leadership of the group usually paid each fighter the
sum of N30,000 after each attack.
Narrating how the group carried out the April 2014 Chibok school girls attack, he said; “one
of our commanders, who received direct orders from our leader, Abubakar
Shekau, Bana Chungori, called out over 100 of us and we all assembled
at the Sambisa Forest.
He told us that our leader, Shekau had ordered that we should
all go to Chibok Local Government and kidnap some school girls at the
school. We couldn’t ask questions, because it was a direct order from
Shekau and we all mounted our trucks.
We had five big military trucks, three Toyota Hilux vans and
two Isuzu pickup trucks. We left Sambisa Forest around 5pm that evening
and arrived the school around 10pm.
We surrounded the school when we arrived and when we were
certain that there would be no resistance, Chungori gave orders that we
should all go in and we found the girls running in fear. We kidnapped
many of them and took them away in our trucks.
When we got to the entrance of the Sambisa Forest, Chungori
asked all the foot soldiers and other lower commanders including me to
leave the truck because he was to take the girls to Shekau, whose camp
was deep inside the forest.
I didn’t see the girls again because I was not close to Shekau,
but I was paid the sum of N30,000 on the day of the kidnapping and I
was also given the sum of N60,000 after a set of ransom was paid for the
release of the girls.”
We targeted densely populated areas — Abu
Abu also said; “sometime in December 2014, two of our top
commanders; Bakura and Ibrahim, ordered me to take two girls with
suicide vests to Maiduguri town and supervise them until they had
detonated their bombs.
But each time I got to Maiduguri, I would not go into the
Metropolis with them and I would leave them at the outskirt of the town
and before you knew it they would have detonated their bombs. The first
one they did was at Muna garage and the second was at Dalori which was
also on the outskirt of Maiduguri town.
A member of the group, Adam, who had a taxi in Maiduguri, then
called our commander and told him that the suicide bombers I had been
bringing in had been unable to enter into the town where they were large
crowds of people and since he was a taxi driver, he could always help
us locate densely populated areas where people could be killed in larger
numbers, if only my commanders would pay him.
They agreed on N200,000 per mission and each time I took the
girls from Sambisa forest, I would take them to Adam, who would then
take the girls into Maiduguri metropolis and after each successful
attack, I was the person who used to take his money to him. My
commanders used to pay me between N60,000 to N70, 000 after each
operation. I wasn’t doing this because of my Islamic faith, I was just
doing this because of the money.” he stated.
I was paid N200,000 to take suicide bombers to target locations — Mustapher
21-year-old Adam Mustapher, a native of Maiduguri told Vanguard
that he joined the sect in 2009 when Mohammed Yusuf, its founder was
alive, but he didn’t take part in the fight at the beginning, because he
was too young. But he said he became attracted to the group in 2014
when he realized people were making money from the group’s activities.
He also confessed that his job as a member since 2014 was to take
young girls being used for suicide bombings to their target locations
and he normally earned N200,000 for each operation; “I attended only
an Islamic school and I didn’t complete my education. I am a taxi
driver and I have been in the business in the last four years. I
joined the Boko Haram Sect in the year 2009 when the founder Mohammed
Yusuf was still alive.
I used to pray with the sect in their mosque but I didn’t join
in the fight from the beginning, I went underground. But I rejoined the
group four years ago when one Ibrahim, a member of the group approached
me with the idea of buying stolen cows and other livestock from the
group, which I would sell in Maiduguri.
I made so much money from the business, but that my friend
Ibrahim was later killed during an encounter with some soldiers. I
bought a vehicle with the money I made and the group then gave me a new
assignment which was for me to always convey suicide bombers, who were
mainly young girls, from the Sambisa forest, with their suicide vests to
their target locations.
The person who normally took the girls from Sambisa forest
to Muma Garage in Maiduguri, where I would pick them up, was one Abu,
who has also been arrested. Sometimes I got instruction from Sambisa
forest on where the suicide bombers would attack and where there was
none I would take them to any area where I felt the casualty figure
would be very high.
But my targets were usually densely populated areas and before I
received the girls from Abu, I normally drove round the town to find
areas that were populated.
I took the suicide bombers to several places such as Post
Office area of Maiduguri, where they carried out attacks, I also took
them twice to Baga Road, Monday market, 33 Army barracks, and several
other places where so many people lost their lives during the attack. I
was usually paid N200,000 after each successful mission.
My last mission was on the 10th of May 2018 in an operation we
carried out at 33, Army Barracks in Maiduguri. In one of my
operations on Baga Road, one of my younger brothers was killed during
the suicide bomb attacks, I felt very bad about the incident and I
wanted to quit but I couldn’t because the money they promised me was
tempting. But I regret everything I have done now. I don’t know how
the police learnt about me, I was in my house when they came and
arrested me.”
I supplied food items, sold diamonds for Boko Haram — Mala
One of the group’s logistic suppliers, 48-year-old Ibrahim Mala, a
native of Goza local Government area of Borno State, said as a security
man at a petrol station, he earned just N5,000 monthly which made him to
join the group. “I am a member of Boko Haram and I am one of the group’s logistic suppliers.
I met the group through one Arramma, who brought one Abu to me
and they asked me to buy some stolen rams and goats from them. I bought
the livestock for N22,000 and then they told me that they were members
of the Boko Haram.
They then requested me to be their supplier. Sometimes they
brought money to me from the Sambia forest to help them buy food items
and other things they would need and after buying the items, I would
keep them in my house and call them on the phone to come and pick up the
items.
They would then come at night to carry the items. They
usually paid me the sum of N100,000 on each trip. But in the month March
they brought some diamonds for me to sell for them and they also linked
me to one Alhaji Talba Gonie, who resided at Zageri Ward, on Baga Road,
who they said knew how to sell the diamonds.
After selling the diamonds, Alahjai Talba Gonie would hand over
the money to me and the sect members would instruct me on what they
needed me to buy for them with some of the money after which they would
come and pick them and the balance of their money. I sold the diamonds
for them on five occasions and they rewarded me handsomely, but I don’t
know where they got the diamonds from. I bought a land with the money I
made from my dealings with the group.
But I am regretting my actions because I was once a Boko Haram
victim as they killed my uncle and his son, when they attacked my
village in 2014 but the money they offered to pay me if I became their
supplier was so tempting. Even my wife wasn’t happy that I joined the
group but there was nothing she could do about it”, he lamented.
Why I passed information on troops movement to Boko Baram — Civilian JTF member
Mohammed Bashiri, 34-year-old member of the civilian JTF, which was
set up to work against the Boko Haram sect, said he opted to work for
the sect, because he was not earning any money as a Civilian JTF but the
sect was ready to pay him for information he passed across to them.
According to him, “I was part of the group that formed
civilian JTF in 2012, and I also joined the military in fighting against
the sect, but the government was not paying me then and I was forced to
join Boko Haram. It was one Adam who lured me into the group and I
became his informant.
"I used my position as a civilian JTF to pass information to
him and whenever he wanted to take supplies to Boko Haram in Sambisa
forest, he would need me to give him information about movement of
military men."
He used to pay me N10,000 on each information I gave to him and he promised that the group would soon reward me handsomely.
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Culled from: Vanguard