The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Borno State says one of two suspected teenage suicide bombers it apprehended at the Kano motor park in Maiduguri is a former wife of Mamman Nur, a factional leader of the Boko Haram terror group.
Speaking during a press briefing, the Borno State Commandant of NSCDC, Ibrahim Abdu, said the girls were suspected to have been smuggled from Sambisa forest into Maiduguri to wreak havoc on innocent civilians.
According to him, during extensive interrogation, the girls confessed to having been sneaked into Maiduguri for possible suicide attacks by a senior commander of Boko Haram.
But also speaking to the journalists, Fatima Kabir, the 15-year-old ex-wife of Nur, said she hails from Gwoza town and was abducted by the insurgents and taken to Sambisa forest three years ago.
She said Nur was her first husband before she was divorced. She then married two other insurgents within two years during her captivity, but those two men abandoned her and fled from Sambisa.
Fatima, four months pregnant and HIV-positive when she was found loitering at a Maiduguri motor park, spoke of the day Boko Haram attacked Gwoza, killed many and kidnapped many others, including her.
“Since then, I have been living in the dreaded forest and also passed from one Boko Haram commander to another.
“I was tired of that horrifying life; so, one day, I resolved to flee, and I succeeded. As I was running, I saw a team of military men and quickly rushed to them and narrated my ordeal.”
She said they sympathized with her and took her to their colleagues in Gwoza where N3000 was given to her for food and transportation and arrangements were made to convey her to Kano motor park in Maiduguri.
“I was told to look for my parents in one of the camps for the Internally Displaced Persons,” she continued. “The night fell and I became stranded with nowhere to go. Some operatives of the civil defense apprehended us and took us here.”
Amina Salisu, the other teenage girl under arrest, corroborated Fatima’s story, saying they were stranded before their arrest and that they never planned to detonate any explosive.
Amina, 14, said she hails from Gulak town in Adamawa State, but was also abducted and taken to Sambisa two years ago. She was married to two insurgents during her captivity, which lasted for two years.
