Believe it or not, Boko Haram has a female recruitment wing, Nigerian defence officials said Friday as they released photographs of three women alleged to be members of the group.
Nigeria’s military headquarters said in Twitter message that three women had been arrested on suspicion of enticing women and girls to join the terrorist group. Aisha Abubakar, Hafsat Usman Bako and Zainab Idris, were arrested traveling to Madagali, south of Maiduguri. It said they were promising women husbands, mainly Boko Haram fighters, if they joined.
According to defence officials, the three arrested women were planning to go to the forest outside Madagali to meet up with members of Boko Haram.
“Investigations reveal that the suspects, led by Hafsat Bako, have the mission to recruit members into the female wing as well as conduct espionage for the group,” a ministry statement said. It said Bako was the widow of a Boko Haram fighter.
Nigerian authorities have arrested and jailed the wives and children of Boko Haram leaders and members in the past. The group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, has cited the arrest of his wife as one reason for the group’s kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in April, 219 of whom remain in captivity.
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