Meet 'Mama Boko Haram' as she grasps for peace in Nigeria

Barrister Aisha Wakil is quite literally caught in the middle between Boko Haram fighters and the government of Nigeria - and has nearly died because of it.

For the past five years, "Mama Boko Haram" - the name given to her by locals - has been negotiating a peace agreement between religious fighters and Nigerian authorities in Maiduguri, the main city in the troubled northeast.
From her home in Maiduguri's Shehuri North district, the stronghold for Boko Haram, Aisha recalled how she first became acquainted with the hard-line group, which has received global notoriety for recently abducting more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, and its violent programme to implement strict Islamic law across Nigeria.
Thousands of people have died - more than 2,000 so far this year - and an estimated 750,000 Nigerians have been driven from their homes in the five-year-old conflict.


In April 2013, Aisha was one of two women appointed to the government-initiated Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North. She was also named as a must-have participant by Boko Haram representatives.
A lawyer and human rights activist, Aisha along with 25 other committee members consisting of politicians and northern community leaders were given the task of identifying and engaging key leaders of Boko Haram, and developing a framework for amnesty and disarmament of the group.
Sheathed in a full black niqab with only her light brown eyes peering out from behind her spectacles, the 44-year-old told Al Jazeera about how she first became involved with Boko Haram, including its slain chief Mohammed Yusuf who was shot dead allegedly while trying to escape police custody in 2009.
"I would visit his house regularly and always cooked food to bring to the almajaris [pupils] of the Quranic school," Aisha said.
"Yusuf would always be there preaching and he liked my cooking very much, especially my egusi soup. He prayed that Almighty Allah would reward me because so many were eating from my pot, and that was how we established a close relationship. The boys called me 'mum'. Many of them didn't have mothers."