Boko Haram Recruits Female Beggars

According to Thisday report, with reference to its security sources in Abuja as soon as female beggars were banned from Kano metropolis by the state authorities last year, they were recruited by the insurgents to launch attacks in Kano, Yobe and Gombe States.

Commenting on the allegation that Chibok girls abducted on April 14 by Boko Haram terrorists might be used for bombings, the military source said:

"They are not the Chibok girls and secondly, some of those girls might not really know they were strapped. Don’t forget that the Kano State Government sometime early this year or late last year banned and drove out beggars from the city. Now the question you should ask is where are those girls who were begging? Could they have gone back to their various places or have they been hiding somewhere or they are the ones being recruited by Boko Haram to carry out these attacks?"

The source also insisted that beggars are an easy target for the insurgents, who can allegedly lure them with small amounts of money. 

In the recent period Kano State has been hit by several explosions launched by female bombers: attack on Kano Islamic Legal Studies College on July 30 and two blasts on one and the same day, July 28, with several people dead and many injured.

Following a series of similar attacks, #BringBackOurGirls campaign co-founder Oby Ezekwesili raised alert that Chibok girls might be used by the insurgents as female bombers. The Nigerian defence responded that there was not any confirmation or indication proving the claim.

in Abuja that as soon as female beggars were banned from Kano metropolis by the state authorities last year, they were recruited by the insurgents to launch attacks in Kano, Yobe and Gombe States.

Commenting on the allegation that Chibok girls abducted on April 14 by Boko Haram terrorists might be used for bombings, the military source said:

"They are not the Chibok girls and secondly, some of those girls might not really know they were strapped. Don’t forget that the Kano State Government sometime early this year or late last year banned and drove out beggars from the city. Now the question you should ask is where are those girls who were begging? Could they have gone back to their various places or have they been hiding somewhere or they are the ones being recruited by Boko Haram to carry out these attacks?"

The source also insisted that beggars are an easy target for the insurgents, who can allegedly lure them with small amounts of money. 

In the recent period Kano State has been hit by several explosions launched by female bombers: attack on Kano Islamic Legal Studies College on July 30 and two blasts on one and the same day, July 28, with several people dead and many injured.

Following a series of similar attacks, #BringBackOurGirls campaign co-founder Oby Ezekwesili raised alert that Chibok girls might be used by the insurgents as female bombers. The Nigerian defence responded that there was not any confirmation or indication proving the claim.