Abducted Chibok Girls Now Suicide Bombers?

A theory that has been making rounds over the past few days have been
backed up by a Vanguard source that the over 200 girls seized from
Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State, who are yet to be
rescued from the pangs of their abductors might have become suicide
bombers.

This theory came following the increasing incidence of female suicide
bombers in the country in recent times.

"It may shock you to know that some of the girls being used for
suicide bombings in parts of the North are among those taken from
Chibok in April this year," the source said.

The source spoke about the possibility that the girls had been
indoctrinated by the terrorists in the last three months of their
captivity, hypnotised and sent into various parts of Nigeria and
beyond with a view to carrying out deadly missions. More so, everyone
would agree that the number of days the girls have spent with the
dreaded Islamist sect group is enough to have been brainwashed.

The source, who has contacts with the Boko Haram leadership, pointed
out that it may be difficult to change radical orientation of the
girls, who may now see their malevolent disposition as an act of
righteousness.

The source said further: "it is rather unfortunate that government
wasted precious time in rescuing the girls either through negotiation
with Boko Haram or other means possible.

"It was clear from the outset that the girls would not come out the
same, after being kept with their unwanted hosts for a long time."

Although the Federal Government last Wednesday assured that the Chibok
girls were not among the female bombers, its spokesman did not provide
any evidence to prove his claim.

At a media briefing in Abuja, Coordinator of the National Information
Centre, Mr. Mike Omeri, tried to ward off the suggestion that the 219
school girls currently in the captivity of Boko Haram insurgents could
have turned suicide bombers.

A human rights activist, Shehu Sani who had taken part in failed bids
to broker a truce between the Federal Government and Boko Haram
leadership had shortly after the abduction of the schoolgirls raised
the alarm that the girls could be brainwashed if not urgently freed.

"But the danger of keeping these girls, without either using
negotiation or force to free them is that, everyday these girls are
being brainwashed by the insurgents," he told Vanguard in May.

"If we are not careful, the Chibok girls that would come out of
captivity would not be the same girls that went into captivity. They
would be indoctrinated, they would be hypnotised and brainwashed to
the point that they would be transformed into insurgents themselves.
And of what use would they be?

"These are very young girls in their teens with very open and
vulnerable minds but open to dangerous ideas. You can see how a man
would abduct a girl whose parents don't like him and, by the time the
girl comes back she is ready to fight her parents.

"So, the danger is that as the clocks ticks, it is ticking for us, for
the girls and for our reputation and integrity as a country."