The Boko Haram sect had been using abduction as a powerful tool to
perpetrate their act on innocent people especially women and girls. Now
that the game plan has change, what is left for the group. Kareem
Haruna, Maiduguri, looks into the activities of the outlawed group in
this regard
Kidnap or abduction of persons is known world over as a criminal
stratagem used to either force a person to part away with valuable
(money in most cases), or as a coercive measure to make someone or a
body to succumb to difficult demands.
Of late, the outlawed Nigerian terrorists organisation, Boko Haram,
aside from other belligerent options like maiming, killing as well as
destruction of both public and privately owned properties in a bid to
advance their undying quest to Islamise the Nigerian state, has also
introduced kidnapping and abduction as part of their warfare strategy.
Their latest, and of course, one of its first kind, according to the
global rating, was the abduction of over 300 secondary school girls in
Government Secondary School, Chibok on April 14, 2014.
The Chibok abduction, though had attracted a global attention and of
course brought the terrorists group under close radar of the
international community, still was not the first of Boko Haram’s
escapade as far as kidnapping and abduction are concerned.
Analysts have opined that the present day Boko Haram, which has
continued to wax stronger with its evolving strategies of advancing
their insurgency, had used abduction in the past two years to achieve
different nefarious aims and goals.
The idea of Boko Haram’s abduction, when it started, was pecuniary. It
could be recalled that aside the various bank heists and shop breaking
carried out by them, the group had also abducted several notable
individuals or their relations and parents to rake in ransoms that were
usually paid in millions of naira, mostly by relatives or government
officials.
According to a security personnel, who wanted anonymity, “Several
individuals in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, had silently paid huge
ransoms without letting us in the security circle to know, because the
abductors had warned of fatal consequences should they bring the police
or the military into the affair.”
Even before the insurgents went wild with their novel idea of kidnapping
persons for money, the erstwhile spokesman of Boko Haram, Abu Qaqa, had
warned in a teleconference with journalists in Maiduguri on January
30, 2012, that they would commence abduction of persons, especially
“spouses and children of security operatives and public office holders”,
in retaliation for the continued detention of their members and
families.
One of the earliest cases of abduction recorded in Maiduguri that came
to public glare was that of an administrative manager of Maiduguri Flour
Mill, Baba Umar Maisalati, who was kidnapped by gunmen that ambushed
him as he was leaving the flour mill complex. His abductors took him to
an unknown destination where he was kept for about three days until he
paid a couple of millions of naira as ransom.
About a week after that, the news came from Bauchi State that suspected
Boko Haram gunmen had kidnapped eight Lebanese construction engineers
working with Satraco Construction Company. How the seven expatriates
were released was still shady till date.
Shortly after that, some seven French families were kidnapped by Boko
Haram and kept under captivity until their release in April after
government was said to have paid heavy ransom in the region of half a
billion naira to the sect; a claim which has not been officially
confirmed.
On February 24, 2013, a university lecturer, Dr Abba Kagu, fell into the
hands of the Boko Haram kidnappers, who picked him as he was mistaken
for an undisclosed relative of a Borno State top public officeholder.
The abductors who earlier demanded N50 million had to reduce the ransom
to N5 million when they realised they were holding the wrong man. But
till date, Kagu’s whereabouts still remains unknown to both security
agencies and the university community.
Also, a renowned grassroots politician and ex-local government chairman
in Borno State, Mr Mustapha Gadobe, was on April 7 kidnapped at an
outskirts area of Maiduguri by gunmen who identified themselves as Boko
Haram. The kidnappers, who took Gadobe away in his car to Marte border
area demanded N50 million. After about a week of negotiation with
government, Gadobe got his freedom, following the payment of an
undisclosed amount of ransom.
On April 27, another kidnap was made of the general manager of Borno
State Water Board, Mr Baba Gujbawu. He was picked by two young gunmen as
he was setting out to attend a meeting in his office. Gujbawu’s
abduction was even more dramatic as he was taken away alongside a Tiv
neighbour who happened to witness the scenario. The water board GM had
to part with N3 million as ransom paid through his friends before he
secured his release. But unfortunately, Gujbawu came with a sad news
that the Tiv man was beheaded in his presence. Perhaps he had no one to
pay the ransom for him.
The spokesman of the JTF, Lt-Col Sagir Musa, had on April 28 issued a
caveat, warning residents of Maiduguri and the environs that the Boko
Haram had resorted to kidnapping prominent citizens with the aim of
getting money from their relatives.
Musa’s statement read, “Intelligence available to the task force has
indicated that Boko Haram terrorists have resolved to concentrate more
on kidnapping than robbery. They alleged that kidnapping is more
lucrative, less dangerous and requires short time to plan and execute.
Similarly, a special kidnapping squad has been earmarked and tasked by
Boko Haram sect to kidnap persons who could be wealthy relations,
politicians, businesswomen/ men, traditional rulers, senior civil
servants and foreigners alike.”
Shortly after Musa’s warning, on May 3, 2013, Boko Haram gunmen carried
out one of their daring abduction when they picked 90-year-old
elder-statesman and former petroleum minister, Shettima Ali Monguno, in
broad daylight. Monguno was whisked away amidst hundreds of worshippers
performing Friday prayer near his family home. The nonagenarian was
abducted amid hundreds of people that performed the Friday prayer and
was later released about four days after the payment of heavy ransom by
the government.
Though government of Borno State had severally denied paying any ransom
to secure Monguno who had spent three days in a remote camp of Boko
Haram in Kirenowa border village, it was generally believed that the N50
million demanded by the sect was paid.
On May 30, a gang of Boko Haram stormed Ngamdu village of Kaga LGA and
abducted the father and mother of a House of Representatives member, but
failed to get them far before security operatives intercepted and
rescued them.
A serving Borno State House of Assembly member, Hon Zakariya Dikwa, had
his mother in captivity after Boko Haram members abducted her last week
in Dikwa town. The old woman was later freed from captivity after the
alleged payment of undisclosed sums of money.
On May 12, in Bama town, gunmen defied the 24 hours curfew imposed on
the town after the massacre of 55 persons, to kidnap a younger brother
of the Shehu of Bama, identified as Abba Zaru. A recent video in the
custody of the military but obtained from one of the raided camps of the
Boko Haram showed the prince being executed alongside three others by
Boko Haram gunmen in a bush location.
April 9 was the day the news was made public by family of a prominent
Borno politician, Stephen Marama, who was 62 years, that their father
had been abducted and the perpetrators called the phone number of his
eldest son, using the abducted politician’s phone and demanding huge
ransoms from top officials of Borno State government. Marama was not
released until very late in April after his family members allegedly
paid some huge but unspecified ransom.
The above time-lines were just a few of the cases that were made public.
LEADERSHIP Sunday reliably gathered that many more abductions were made
and the victims had either died in captivity or the families had
secretly paid ransoms to gain their freedom.
But from the recent happenings, it does seem that Boko Haram terrorists
do not kidnap individuals for pecuniary benefits alone; their hostage
taking strategy now functions dually as source of income and as cannon
fodder to avert attacks. But most sadly, while their hostages (mostly
women and girls) continue to remain with them, they also serve as tools
for quenching or servicing their rusted sexual libido. Many women that
had escaped captivity in recent times had been courageous enough to tell
gory stories of how they were being subjected to sexual abuses by their
heartless abductors who would line them up to take turns in a sordid
sexual orgy. Many of the “lucky” escapees came back home, battered,
abused, injured and/or impregnated.
A top security official who spoke off the record said that given the
manner in which the girls were moved out of the school in Chibok and
marched into Sambisa forest where they were allegedly split into various
camps indicated that the Boko Haram intended to use the girls beyond
the usual quest for ransom.
“They are very much aware that measures are being taken concertedly by
the Nigerian forces to close in on them, hence they resorted to buy time
by taking hostages. They did not only plan to use hostage as cannon
fodders, but they tactically picked on a sex that would generate a lot
of concerns within and outside the country in such a manner that
stringent military measures would not be taken, even if forces are to
raid Sambisa to rescue the hostages,” said the security source.
The source further described what is going on as “a high profile art of
warfare” which may not have been masterminded without the aids of
experienced terrorists. “That we have been recording the faces of
foreign nationals among some of the Boko Haram members killed during
recent shoot outs with our troops is enough pointer that Boko Haram
enjoys both technical and material support from foreign terrorists
organisations. That is why you would normally hear them speaking Arabic
in most of their released messages which is a tacit way of impressing
their paymasters who ordinarily would not understand the Hausa language
that is their main lingua franca.”
Some other opinions viewed the abduction of the girls as a strategy by
the leaders of the Boko Haram terror group to continue enjoying the
supports of their foot soldiers who would someday naturally protest
being in the bush without any form of feminine comfort. “It is not easy
to stay in the bush as a matured man without a woman; and this could be a
strategy of ensuring that the armed members of the group do not one day
protest out of want of sexual satisfaction to abandon the Boko Haram,” a
University of Maiduguri’s senior lecturer in the department of
sociology and anthropology, who preferred not to be quoted, said.
“With money, power (in form of arms) and women to sleep around with, an
average tout would rather spend the rest of his life in the jungle than
coming out to the free world where such luxury may be lacking. What I am
saying is that the purpose of picking the girls may not be all about
pecuniary gains, it may also be for the purpose of fulfilling that
sexual issue in order to keep the men in the bush and loyal to their
nefarious cause. That is why we hear Shekau saying in his last video
that he has no intention to negotiate the release of the girls; that
they would be married off as war booties to his members. And this alone
should ginger the federal government to action and ensure that these
girls do not suffer further abuses or torture in the hands of these
insurgents.”
The time is fast ticking and the misery of the poor girls yet to be
rescued soared by the minutes. The fear now is what becomes of these
poor girls, should the foreign experts eventually arrive Nigeria and
head straight into the Sambisa forest or wherever these young girls are
being held hostage. Would the Boko Haram abductors abandon them and
flee? Would they used them as shield? Or would they agree to negotiate a
fee for their freedom? These are some of the painful questions
troubling the minds of many Nigerians.
