A 9-year old Boko Haram suspect told the Borno State government that he was being paid N5000 to spy on soldiers. Another teen recruit also confessed that he was also paid N5000 to burn schools.
The Special Assistant to the Borno State Government on Communication, Mr Isa Gusau, told Channels Television over the weekend that one of the arrested Boko Haram teenage recruit who were presented by the military to the state government, confessed that he was given N5000 to burn a school.
Giving an account of what transpired when the suspects were presented to the Governor, he said:
“The Governor asked one of them how come he was recruited into the Boko Haram. He was just nine years old. He said he was given 5,000 Naira to spy on the soldiers while another said he was given 5,000 Naira to burn our schools. There was another lady who was being paid N10,000 to smuggle arms.”
On the military effort to end the activities of the Boko Haram terrorists, he said that the Governor of Borno State had always suggested the deployment of three approaches – military deployment, deployment of economic stimulation package and political solution.
“People are talking from the point of sentiments. We are not looking at the reality on ground. We need to ask ourselves, why the Boko Haram has kept growing despite the counter-terrorism operations?
Mr Gusau further explained that it had become difficult for persons that had been recruited into Boko Haram to reintegrate into their communities.
“When they are recruited, the leaders of the group take them to their communities to attack them and people in the community will see them as members of the Boko Haram and will never allow them back, even when they want to come back. The government must create a window for those who were forcefully conscripted into the Boko Haram to get out,” he stressed.