Boko Haram insurgents deliberately raped the women they abducted with the intent of impregnating them to ensure that there would be a future generation of jihadist insurgents, according to Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima during a Monday meeting.
Governor Shettima publically advocated for a special program to support these women and stop the chain of violence, as aspired to by the Boko Haram terrorists.
The Governor said that, based on his study and observation of Boko Haram members, he noted that the belief among most of them is that they can confiscate any wife or property from someone who does not share their interpretation of Islam.
He also said that children “fathered by them [Boko Haram] are likely to share their ideology later in life and succeed their parents in the years to come,” which would ensure a continuous cycle of insurgency.
The Governor’s comments come at a time when hundreds women and children have been rescued by the military and with reports that some women are visibly pregnant.
“I am happy with the recovery of hundreds of women and children, it is a thing of joy that they have been freed alive. However, I also very worried about what the future holds for us if what I have gathered about these insurgents works according to their plan” he told the public.
Governor Shettima also admitted that he is concerned that “sect members would, after putting a woman in the family way, identify them with particular communities to monitor the children and whisk them away in future.”
Isa Gusau, the spokesman for Governor Shettima, said his boss made the observations while addressing some government officials in a closed door meeting in Maiduguri this weekend which was made public on Monday. The Governor and other government officials have been meeting to discuss strategies for the reintegration of these women and girls into society.
