The delay in freeing the over 200
girls seized from Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State, may have
exposed them to radicalisation by their captors, who are now using them for
suicide bombings, a source told Sunday Vanguard at the weekend.
The source spoke about the
possibility that the girls had been indoctrinated by the terrorists in the last
three months of their captivity, hynotised and sent into various parts of
Nigeria and beyond with a view to carrying out deadly missions.
Serial attacks carried out by female
bombers in Kano, last week, lent credence to the claim.
The source, who has contacts with
the Boko Haram leadership, pointed out that it may be difficult to change
radical orientation of the girls, who may now see their malevolent disposition
as an act of righteousness.
“It may shock you to know that some
of the girls being used for suicide bombings in parts of the North are among
those taken from Chibok in April this year,” the source said.
Continuing, the source insisted that
“it is rather unfortunate that government wasted precious time in rescuing the
girls either through negotiation with Boko Haram or other means possible.
“It was clear from the outset that
the girls would not come out the same, after being kept with their unwanted
hosts for a long time”.
Although the Federal Government
said, last Wednesday, that the Chibok girls were not among the female bombers,
its spokesman did not provide any evidence to prove his claim.
At a media briefing in Abuja,
Coordinator of the National Information Centre, Mr. Mike Omeri, tried to ward
off the suggestion that the 219 school girls currently in the captivity of Boko
Haram insurgents could have turned suicide bombers.
He said:”But the danger of keeping
these girls, without either using negotiation or force to free them is that,
everyday these girls are being brainwashed by the insurgents.
” If we are not careful, the Chibok
girls that would come out of captivity would not be the same girls that went
into captivity. They would be indoctrinated, they would be hypnotised and
brainwashed to the point that they would be transformed into insurgents
themselves. And of what use would they be?
“These are very young girls in their
teens with very open and vulnerable minds but open to dangerous ideas. You can
see how a man would abduct a girl whose parents don’t like him and, by the time
the girl comes back she is ready to fight her parents.
“So, the danger is that as the
clocks ticks, it is ticking for us , for the girls and for our reputation and
integrity as a country”.
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