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| Captured Boko Haram members |
Boko Haram
recruits members, not just from Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad, it also gets
recruits from Niger Republic who it pays N500, 000. However, their pay is
raised should their bombs kill more people in Nigeria, the BBC has said, in a
news monitored by SHOWBIZPLUSng.
The teens,
when they are enlisted, are given Tramol [an opiate drug], marijuana and
alcohol. They break into houses for cash; sometimes beat people for money, and
steal their animals for food. They gather again for their opium and drinks.
Though the
recruits, barely in their teens, do not like the sect and its activities, they
said they took to violence as being students they have no jobs and are poor.
The BBC
documentary on Boko Haram, entitled ‘Niger hit by Nigeria’s Boko Haram fallout’
yesterday focused on young boys of a Niger Republic border town with Nigeria,
Diffa. In their hangout, the gang explained their association with the sect.
“They have paid 500,000 Nigerian naira ($3,085, £1,835) to those of us who
followed them over there. The rest of us, here, we give them information. When
they come, we inform them about what’s going on, what the security forces are
up to. If they tell you to set off a bomb and it succeeds, if it kills a lot of
people, they will pay you a lot of money,” one of the young men said.
Five members
of this gang in Diffa, near the border, have joined the group; two have since
been killed on operations, he said.
But the
ideals for which Boko Haram is fighting – the imposition of strict Sharia, an
Islamist caliphate and the banning of Western education – hold no interest for
the gang, the report continued.
One of the
gang members said, “Boko Haram Islamist militants from Nigeria regularly come
across the border, looking for recruits. We can’t contact them, they come to
us.”
The
documentary showed about a dozen gang members in a tiny, dark room, built with
local mud-bricks in the town, with a couple of home made stools and weights for
them to exercise just outside the door. Already, Nigeria’s neighbouring
countries – Niger, Cameroon and Chad – are fearful that the group’s insurgency
may spill over to their borders.
The Diffa
government believes that the emergency rule in place in north-eastern states of
Nigeria has not changed anything over the last year.
“It has
radicalised Boko Haram more than anything else and generated other gangs and
groups of bandits,” one official said.
Asked if
they agree with Boko Haram’s reason for fighting, the gang answered in unison:
“No. We only do it for the money.”
The boys who
do not share the Boko Haram ideology of opposing anything western, were
reportedly in skinny jeans, bright coloured T-shirts and shiny chains – like
those seen around the necks of American rappers on music videos.
“Their
attitude and brand new clothes make them stand out when they walk down the
dusty streets of Diffa. The fashion style is clearly inspired by Western
consumerism rather than Islamist militancy,” the report said. “The gang members
agreed to talk to us on the condition that we would not reveal their identity.
“We break
into houses for cash; sometimes we beat people for money, we steal their
animals so we can eat and then we gather up and take Tramol [an opiate drug],
smoke ganja [marijuana] and drink alcohol,” one said. “We have no jobs; some of
us are still at high school but we need money. Violence has become a form of
work for us.”
The young
gang members also showed BBC a stash of machetes, knives, knuckle-dusters and
traditional axes. They also claimed to have firearms and grenades but refused
to show them.
Boko Haram
has also been attacking the Niger region, an official told the BBC, adding that
several attacks allegedly planned by the sect on the country’s territory have
been foiled over the last months; and dozens of men suspected to have links to
the group have been arrested.
Niger’s
customs and national guards patrol along the porous border every day but the
report said the Nigerian soldiers are yet to join the joint border patrols with
their counterparts from Niger. The trading post of Krikri is seeing many
Nigerians arrive seeking safety adding that some have relatives on the other
side of the border.
“We know
that Boko Haram members come across the border, but we are watching them
closely,” Diffa government representative Inoussa Saouna, says.
“Just last
December, we arrested two dozens of men – we believe they were planning to
kidnap the regional governor, the military zone commander and myself.”
Military
police, customs officers, as well as national guards conduct daily patrols
along the porous border to mitigate the threat, BBC said.
“On paper,
the border is supposed to be secured by joint patrols with soldiers from both
countries. However, they have yet to start.
“Niger’s
security forces are receiving training, logistics and intelligence support from
both the US and France. Most of the border between Niger and Nigeria is
naturally drawn by the Komadougou Yobe River.
Niger has a
growing refugee crisis but without camps, which the authorities are reluctant
to allow, fearing they could become new targets, or worse, recruitment centres
for Boko Haram.
BBC
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