Untold story of Boko Haram ‘families’

Mallam Ahmadu Adamu, 48, a carpenter in Maiduguri, is not happy that his younger brother, Ibrahim, enlisted in the Boko Haram terror group. For about three years now, Adamu has not heard about his brother. It is not known whether he is alive or killed. Their parents died about two decades ago, entrusting Ibrahim to […]

Mallam Ahmadu Adamu, 48, a carpenter in Maiduguri, is not happy that his younger brother, Ibrahim, enlisted in the Boko Haram terror group.
For about three years now, Adamu has not heard about his brother. It is not known whether he is alive or killed. Their parents died about two decades ago, entrusting Ibrahim to Ahmadu, with a stern instruction to give him an upright upbringing and teach him carpentry or any other trade according to his talent.
Speaking to Daily Trust on Sunday about his younger brother, Adamu said, “I taught him carpentry and we were shuttling between Maiduguri and Banki for business. And we were prospering at Banki, so much that I wanted to relocate to that place.
“Ibrahim joined the Boko Haram group about five years ago. It was the late Mohammed Yusuf’s preaching that made him join the group. He attended the preaching everywhere it was held. At that time we did not discern any danger in it. We did not discern that they were getting indoctrinated with warped concepts of Islam. We only began to discern the danger in that preaching in the last five years. We all thought it was a good thing. We thought that Mohammed Yusuf was teaching them righteousness.
“Gradually, they imbibed the culture of hatred towards the government and civil servants. We all thought it was a good trend. Later, we began to see the danger. Consequently, we began to warn our children and wards about the danger in the group. We began to advise them to denounce and renounce it, but that was too late.
“At that time, I occasionally summoned Ibrahim and warned him to dissociate himself from the group. He pretended to have heeded my warning, but I later got to know that he was only pretending. I still saw him going on preaching tours with Mohammed Yusuf.
“He was about 40 years old and already married with children when he joined the group. But I never heard that he participated in killing people. He might have killed, but I have not heard. I never saw him with any weapon. All I know is that he was a devout follower of Mohammed Yusuf. He followed him everywhere for preaching. For about three years now I have not heard about him. I don’t know whether he is dead or alive. That’s the only thing I can tell you.”
Maina Bukar, 44, who hails from Marte, resides in Maiduguri. According to him, his younger brother, Abacha Mustapha, 35, and nephew, Tijjani Madu, 22, are Boko Haram terrorists. They lived with him.
He told Daily Trust on Sunday that, “For a couple of years we observed a gradual change of attitude in them, which served as a prelude to their enlistment in Boko Haram. They had been staunch followers of Mohammed Yusuf. They followed him everywhere he went for preaching. I think Tijjani joined at Marte. He joined out of conviction, not out of desire for anything else.
“We never bothered about their change of attitude and conviction. Whatever they said after returning from Mohammed Yusuf’s preaching never bothered us. However, we parted ways over our differences and conviction. We all believed everyone was entitled to his opinion and belief. We all lived our different lives.
“Later, Abacha left for Dikwa and settled there. Since then we have not heard about him. We don’t know whether he is dead or alive. Tijjani also left Marte, but we don’t know when and where he relocated to. We don’t know where he could be now. We don’t know whether he is dead or alive. But I can tell you that they have not left anyone in grief.
“In the last few years we were disturbed when we regularly heard that they participated in insurgency. But now that we hear nothing about them anymore, we are completely at peace. We don’t think about them now, and we not worried.
“We used to hear how they would go round our village, Marte, teaching our elders the Boko Haram way of observing the five daily prayers and other acts of worship. They barred our people in Marte from coming to Maiduguri. Whenever they heard our elders planning to travel to Maiduguri, they would stop them. Anyone who planned to go to Maiduguri, they would kill him and his children and dispossess him of his money and cattle. No one dared to travel out of Marte because the bad boys were always keeping watch.
“We are now most grateful to God that we no longer hear anything about them and the atrocities they committed. Whether they are dead or alive, nobody cares. They robbed us of peace and honour, but God has rescued us.”
Findings by our reporter, however, revealed that most families on the Nigerian border with Niger, Chad and Cameroun would not want their children and wards killed by military troops for whatever reason. According to a man who did not want his name mentioned for fear of attack: “Whatever crime my son commits I will never report or hand him over to the military to be killed for nothing.’’ They alleged that their various ethnic groups were being systematically annihilated on the pretext of stamping out insurgency. They are also afraid of being killed by the insurgents if reported. Numerous parents and siblings who opposed their insurgent children or wards were said to have been slaughtered by the group.
It was also said that the Boko Haram insurgents recruited many youths into their fold, using the carrot-and-stick method. According to our source, people were offered as much as N500,000 and above to join the group. It was revealed that in Maiduguri, two insurgents offered the sum of N500, 000 to their elder brother to join them. When he persistently refused, they killed him along the street and took his corpse to their parents and told them not to cry. This was why majority of the conscripted militants could not resist the offer.