A 14-year-old female said Boko Haram leaders chose her to detonate an
Improvised Explosive Device in Maiduguri because she refused to get married
to their members in Sambisa Forest.
The suspect was among three suspects arrested by the military, when they
allegedly came for a suicide mission at a military facility at Jakana in
Maiduguri.
The suspect told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri yesterday
that she was sent on the mission to detonate the device because she refused
marriage proposals from three Boko Haram terrorists.
The suspect said she was abducted with her father, Usman, by Boko Haram
insurgents in Gwoza, Borno State in 2013.
She said she and her father were running to Mandara Mountain for safety
when they were abducted.
The suspect said she and her father wanted to travel to Madagali in Adamawa
State, where he normally sold cows before Boko Haram insurgents attacked
Gwoza.
“I have spent three years in the hands of Boko Haram. Three different Boko
Haram (terrorists) had proposed to marry me and I refused. Two among them
were commanders.
“When I refused for the third time, one of the commanders became furious and
threatened to kill me and my father. I told him I would rather die than marry a
Boko Haram.
“So, after one week, they said since I have refused to get married, I should be
taken to Maiduguri for a suicide mission. So, three of them held my hands
and they injected me.
“Then, I never knew what was happening again.
“I was taken to a herbalist, who, after I regained consciousness, told me that I
had been with him for 30 days.
“He told me he was preparing me for a mission. So he gave me some water
to drink. I don’t know what it tasted like but I drank it. So, he said they would come and pick me today.
“At about 7p.m. three Boko Haram members came with a male and a female.
They were also recruited for the mission like me.
“We spent one and a half days on the road to Maiduguri. It was when we got
to Maiduguri that they strapped the bombs on our bodies. At that moment I
knew that I was going to die, so I started crying.
“I was watching when the first bomber, a female, detonated her explosive
close to a military checkpoint which killed no one but herself. The second, a
male, was killed by the military before he could detonate his.
“At that time something told me to remove my own IED and surrender which I
did. I was surrounded by soldiers and policemen and I fainted.
“When I woke, I discovered that one of the policemen at the checkpoint was a
brother of my mother’s. I think that was the reason I survived,’’ the suspect
said.
Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor, the Theatre Commander of Operation
Lafiya Dole, said the suspects were being de-radicalised at the military
detention facility.
NAN
