The Army has said Boko Haram has devised a strategy of recruiting youths, especially in the Northeast.
Acting Director of Defence (Information) Brig.-Gen. Rabe Abubakar said in a statement that the Boko Haram terrorists gave loans to young entrepreneurs and artisans to induce and recruit them into the group.
The statement reads: “It has come to the knowledge of the Defence Headquarters that Boko Haram terrorists have devised another means of recruiting unsuspecting youths. In this clandestine dispensation, Boko Haram insurgents have resorted to providing loans to young entrepreneurs and artisans in the Northeast to induce them for recruitment.
“The major targets of the unholy business engagement are youths in the Northeast, especially butchers, traders, tailors, beauticians and other vocational entrepreneurs, who can be easily enticed with such loans without paying attention to sundry inherent dangers associated with the acceptance of such goodies from this satanic group or unfamiliar source. After such loans, the beneficiaries are given the option of either joining the group or risk being killed if they fail to pay the loan as and when due, whereas the payment has been surreptitiously programmed to fail by the benefactor, the Boko Haram.
“It is pertinent to state that having been effectively decimated and degraded, the remnant or surviving splinter groups of Boko Haram are desperate to recruit more people into their rank and file as a result of sustained onslaught against them by the troops. The Defence Headquarters advises the public, especially those in the Northeast, to constantly be wary and conscious of tactics of the desperate Boko Haram. They should be guided to avoid loan or financial assistance from non-conventional source, but from conventional financial institutions, such as banks, organised trade unions or institutionalised savings and loans establishments. Acting otherwise may lead to painful and untimely death from the blood-thirsty Boko Haram terrorists.” Guardian
