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Kidnapped To Kill: How Boko Haram Is Turning Girls Into Weapons
The question was always the same, she says. So, too, was the answer.
“They came to us to pick us,” Fati recalls. “They would ask, ‘Who wants to be a suicide bomber?’ The girls would shout, ‘me, me, me.’ They were fighting to do the suicide bombings.”
Boko Haram: Why terror group kidnaps schoolgirls, and what happens next
Young girls fighting to strap on a bomb, not because they were brainwashed by their captors’ violent indoctrination methods but because the relentless hunger and sexual abuse — coupled with the constant shelling — became too much to bear.
They wanted a way out, she says. They wanted an escape.
“It was just because they want to run away from Boko Haram,” Fati says. “If they give them a suicide bomb, then maybe they would meet soldiers, tell them, ‘I have a bomb on me’ and they could remove the bomb. They can run away.”
Fati, 16, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, pauses and grabs the three gold bracelets around her wrist. They’re a gift from her mother, her only connection to home after she became one of hundreds of girls kidnapped by the world’s deadliest terror group, which forced them to marry its fighters.
There was no escape for Fati when fighters from Boko Haram descended on her village in northeast Nigeria in 2014. Her future “husband” was carrying a gun, and Fati’s parents had already spent a precious 8,000 naira (roughly $40) to smuggle her two older brothers to safety. There was nothing they could do.
“We said, ‘No, we are too small; we don’t want to get married,'” Fati recalls. “So they married us by force.”
After he raped her for the first time, Fati’s abuser gave her a wedding present — a purple and brown dress with a matching headscarf that she would wear for the next two years while under his control, whisked from hideout to hideout in order to evade Nigerian authorities.
She says she met girls even younger than her in Boko Haram’s stronghold in the Sambisa Forest, kidnapped from their families to be married off, imprisoned and abused by their self-proclaimed “husbands.”
“There were so many kidnapped girls there, I couldn’t count,” Fati says.
Among them, she says, are some of the more than 270 schoolgirls from Chibok, Nigeria, whose kidnapping in April 2014 shocked the world.
The social media campaign #BringBackOurGirls gave many people their first glimpse into Boko Haram’s targeted abuse of women and girls. But recently the group has embraced a sickening new tactic.
Alarming new statistics released by UNICEF show a dramatic increase in the use of children as bombs in four countries — Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon — where Boko Haram has waged its campaign of terror in the past two years.
The estimated number of children used in bombing attacks has skyrocketed from four in 2014 to 44 in 2015. UNICEF says that three quarters of all child bombers are girls.
As the number of children involved in attacks has risen, a newly formed multinational coalition has been putting pressure on the ISIS-affiliated group like never before.
Fati’s story reveals a terrorist organization that is demanding more and more from its captives as its decisions become increasingly fueled by desperation.
The market in Maroua, Cameroon was bombed in July. "Since that day, when I see a young lady or girl who I don't know, I am afraid," says one vender.
The market in Maroua, Cameroon was bombed in July. “Since that day, when I see a young lady or girl who I don’t know, I am afraid,” says one vender.
Sambisa, once thought to be Boko Haram’s impenetrable, even cursed stronghold, is under attack, the target of relentless aerial bombings and raids by the Nigerian military.
“There were always bombs and bullets coming from the sky,” Fati recalls. She feared the bombings as much as she feared her captors.
“All of the girls were so frightened. All of them, they always cried and the men raped us,” Fati said, remembering her time spent in Sambisa. “There is no food, nothing. The children, you can count their ribs because of the hunger.”
Fati says the bombing runs over the Sambisa killed many of the captives, including some of the Chibok girls. But the raids over the past year have also freed hundreds of women and girls, including Fati, who was picked up by the Cameroonian army after her captors defected and tried to flee across the border.
Fati is now in the relative safety of the Minawao refugee camp in Cameroon. When Boko Haram started raiding the border towns, Nigerians ran here, desperate for food and safety.
The camp formed around them, white tents dotting the dusty ground in this growing city of sorts, already double the size of what it was designed to be.
What they’ve found is a society turned upside down — a place where girls are viewed with suspicion, rather than embraced.
“We can have all the guns in the world,” said Cameroonian Army Col. Mathieu Noubosse. “They are using girls as young as 8.”
The colonel’s outpost sits on a rocky embankment overlooking Nigeria. The road below extends toward Maiduguri, Borno State’s capital and the birthplace of Boko Haram.
Gwoza, once a stronghold of the group and where Fati spent several weeks, is visible from the sights of the soldiers’ machine guns. The worry now, as the coalition continues to notch up military victories, is that Boko Haram will continue to pivot towards the use of young girls as their weapon of choice.
Noubossa says girls make for ideal suicide bombers. The devices can be hidden away under their long veils or in baskets on top of their heads. He says the devices are often remotely detonated. The most vulnerable people in this society are now becoming the most feared.
“These are victims,” says UNICEF’s Cameroon Country Director Felicity Tchibinda. “But they are being viewed in suspicious ways, and we need to change that narrative. There are long-term consequences if we don’t. We’ll lose the trust between communities and victims and the authorities that are supposed to protect them.”
In Minawao, changing the narrative involves campwide advocacy programs and protection for girls such as Fati.
Vigilantes at a checkpoint outside Baigai, Cameroon say Boko Haram's tactics have changed the way they perceive strangers.
Vigilantes at a checkpoint outside Baigai, Cameroon say Boko Haram’s tactics have changed the way they perceive strangers.
Here, the label of Boko Haram wife can carry serious consequences.
“It’s a double tragedy,” says UNICEF protection officer Loveline Ndam. She says girls are rescued from terror only to be ostracized by their communities.
Spread out at the foot of scrub-covered mountains, the camp is just beyond the red zone of frequent Boko Haram attacks, but on the other side of the hills, small pockets of fighters operate.
“A year ago, the humanitarian situation was clearly worse in Nigeria. Today, it’s the same (across the border), same level of crisis,” says one senior Western diplomat.
Security officials say that Boko Haram has infiltrated the camp, but what refugees fear the most is escaped abductees such as Fati.
“If we see a strange girl, she may be a suicide bomber,” says Mohammed Amodu, a refugee leader. “Perhaps their mind is with Boko Haram.”
It’s a sentiment that permeates the area where Boko Haram operates.
Fasumata, a recently arrived refugee, says when the fighting came to her village, she hid for days under mattresses with her children, unable to move until there was a lull in the fighting. When the shooting stopped, she picked up her children and ran.
“Everyone was scared, no shoes, no nothing,” she recalls. “Everyone was running for their lives.”
Still, she considers herself lucky. She made it to Minawao without getting caught by Boko Haram. She had heard the stories even when her village was still safe from the conflict.
“If they see someone who escaped from Boko Haram, they think they are still with Boko Haram,” Fasumata says, “that Boko Haram freed them to do suicide bombs. Not just in the camp, anywhere in Nigeria. People are afraid because everywhere, if you hear ‘suicide bomb,’ it is a young girl.”
Fati, meanwhile, is simply grateful to be alive. On the last day of March, she managed to get in touch with her mother by phone after she found a refugee from her same village in camp.
It took two days for her mother to get to Minawao.
“She had to collect money from people in the village so she could afford to make it here,” says Fati. “Now that I have escaped, I thank God, and I am always praying to God that I was able to escape.”
In photos: Life after Boko Haram
But she says many girls are still in Sambisa Forest, some volunteering to die so that they can perhaps live.
By Brent Swails and David McKenzie, CNN
As he continues to impact our society positively and find new frontiers, Mr. Seyi Tinubu leaves no one in doubt about his generosity and care.
To Borno with love
For a state still nursing deep scars inflicted by years of violent extremism, the collapse of the Alau Dam, Borno, on December 10 was yet one tragedy too many.
The flood from the dam overwhelmed two local councils in the state (Maiduguri and Jere), killed about 150 people, and displaced over 70 percent of its residents.
Maiduguri and its residents, who never seemed to get enough help for their protracted misery, needed more help after the dam collapsed.
When President Tinubu’s first son, Mr. Seyi Tinubu, with his younger brother, Yinka, and a few others visited the state and announced a donation of N500m, it came as a prayer answered.
The intervention was not only in cash. He also donated 10,000 pieces of mosquito nets, blankets, mattresses, kettles, wrappers, buckets, mats, sanitary pads and wash kits, as well as critical supplies to cover prescriptions for almost 50,000 children and adults, including anti-malarials, anti-hypertensives, anti-parasitics, anti-diabetics, analgesics and antibiotics.
The gesture, which left many pleasantly amazed, caused a ripple in several quarters, especially among those unfamiliar with such heartfelt generosity from the children of Nigeria’s first family without official titles.
Succour for PWDs
Many didn’t know that Seyi wasn’t a stranger to looking out for the distressed and vulnerable. For him, philanthropic and humanitarian gestures not only preceded the Maiduguri tragedy, but it’s a practice he determined to honour, almost like a tradition.
For example, in May 2023, during the Renewed Hope Concert at the MKO Abiola National Stadium in Abuja to celebrate President Bola Tinubu’s imminent inauguration, Seyi stirred emotions when he was seen handing out wheelchairs to some people with disabilities present at the venue. The event was attended by then president-elect Tinubu and Vice President-elect Shettima.
The elated beneficiaries, who saw his generous and thoughtful gesture instantly upgrade the quality of their lives, couldn’t contain their joy.
Youth and sports too
Fast forward to 2025, to the Seyi Tinubu Basketball Championship, held at the Dogon Dutse Basketball Pitch in Jos, offered where he donated a total of N5m in cash prizes, with N3m naira awarded to the victorious team and N2m, to the runners-up. It’s clear that Seyi Tinubu’s tradition of uplifting others certainly knows neither tribe nor religion.
For him, the championship—which the organisers said aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda—was enough to celebrate youth, community spirit, and the power of sports to unite people across Nigeria.
A heart for healthcare
However, his interventions have mainly focused on health, with maternal and child health taking the lead.
Through his ‘Drug Banks for Indigent Patients in Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatric Pharmacy Intervention’ launched in August 2024 at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Shika-Zaria, Kaduna State, he set out to reach about 600,000 indigent patients monthly across 60 tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
This ambitious project involves establishing drug banks in each of the 60 facilities mandated to service 10,000 indigent patients monthly.
At the inauguration of the project at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Dr. Cole Ayodele, the National Coordinator for the Seyi Tinubu Maternal and Child Health Intervention Scheme, had noted rightly that Nigeria’s maternal mortality was about the 4th highest in the world – a grim record and narrative which this noble initiative from Seyi Tinubu is determined to change.
While launching the same initiative at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), he further endowed an N1,000,000 scholarship granted to the best paediatric resident doctor.
Dr. Gabriel Oyeleke, a senior paediatrics registrar who was reportedly distinguished himself in the line of duty by caring for children in the hospital, was awarded the N1,000,000 scholarship in cash the same day.
The Chief Medical Director of LUTH, Dr. Wasiu Adeyemo, couldn’t hide his pleasure at the initiative. He noted that it would provide significant financial relief for countless indigent individuals who were financially unable to access prescribed drugs and medical treatments.
Before then, the team had visited the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Asaba with the total package, including the N1m Residency Training Scholarship for final-year pediatric residents to assist with registering and preparing for final fellowship exams.
Dr. Joseph Ajanwenyi, who got the scholarship award, thanked Seyi Tinubu for his generosity and also vowed to use the grant responsibly for its intended purpose.
After that, the Seyi Tinubu healthcare intervention train also stopped at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Abuja to donate Life-Saving Drugs Worth Millions of naira.
While celebrating the donation on their Instagram page on September 24, 2024, the FMC Abuja management stated that the donation was Seyi Tinubu’s demonstration of his commitment to maternal and child care.
They also celebrated Dr. Fatima Mohammed, who received the N1,000,000 Seyi Tinubu Residency Training Scholarship the same day.
Medical bills cleared
From Abuja, we head back to the South, this time to Lagos State precisely, where Ifeoluwa Ore, a young sickle cell patient at LASUTH who had been discharged but could not leave because she could not afford the medical bills, was recorded thanking Seyi Tinubu for clearing her medical bills.
Unable to contain her joy and relief, she stated, “It has lifted a lot of burden for my family, and there is no way I can appreciate him enough. I want to say ‘Thank you’ for what he has done and what he is doing God will continue to bless you.”
One of his humanitarian projects, Seyi Tinubu Support Initiative, cleared the medical bills of Ifeoluwa and the others who were stranded.
By Maxwell Uzochukwu, he wrote from Lekki, Lagos.
Senator Monday Okpebholo, the Executive Governor of Edo State has shown that he is a blessing to the State with his policy, appointments, flagging off roads construction in the three Senatorial districts and his love for the people of the state.
Edo State Governor, Sen Monday Okpobholo
Governor Monday Okpebholo has started working and fulfilling his five (5) points agenda that he promised the good people of the state since he took oath of office.
In security, he has shown total commitment because he promised the people of Edo State that he will provide security and truly, Edo State is peaceful and people are happy about it. He has given necessary support to security personnels.
He increased Ambrose Alli University (AAU) subvention from N40 million to N500 million, he has promised to look into AAU medical students issue and the governor has started renovating primary and secondary Schools in the state, this is to tell you that Senator Monday Okpebholo knows the important of Education.
Agricultural sector has taken a good turn because he has awarded N70 billion to the sector. He knows the important of Agriculture to the state and nation at large, very soon Edo State will be the food basket of the nation with the way His Excellency, Senator Monday Okpebholo is investing in Agriculture.
During electioneering period, Senator Monday Okpebholo promised employment of 5000 people within his 100days in office and he has started the process, very soon, Edo State people will smile because he will not sign MOU before employing them. He has started appointing Edo State People and not Lagosians into various positions.
The people’s Governor, Monday Okpebholo has started his road projects across Edo State , from Edo South to Edo Central and down to Edo North, just because he believes that when the roads are motorable, prices of market products will drop automatically.
The governor has started investing in Health sector, this is because he knows the important of the sector to Edo State people.
By Eigbefo Felix
As I set out to pen this piece on this serene Sunday afternoon, my mind is drawn to the profound epistle of Apostle Paul to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29: “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.”
Edo State Governor, Sen Monday Okpobholo
Hallelujah!
I have chosen to begin this way because it resonates deeply with my assessment of Governor Monday Okpebholo’s leadership over the past two months.
When Senator Monday Okpebholo stepped into the political ring, many underestimated him. He wasn’t the loudest voice in the room, nor the most flamboyant. In a political landscape where the ability to raise dust often overshadows the capacity to lay foundations, Okpebholo’s calm and collected demeanor was dismissed as a weakness. But, as Apostle Paul aptly put it, God has a way of using the “foolish” things of the world to confound the wise. And indeed, Governor Okpebholo has confounded his critics with actions that speak louder than the hollow rhetoric of his predecessor.
To truly appreciate the transformation taking place in Edo State, one must first understand where we’re coming from. For eight long years, governance was more about optics than outcomes. The previous administration, under Governor Godwin Obaseki, was a masterclass in what the locals have dubbed “audio governance.” Projects were announced with great fanfare, but their execution remained a mirage. MoUs were signed and celebrated, only to gather dust in forgotten drawers. Roads that were critical to economic and social well-being were left to rot, with billboards proclaiming, “Please bear with us; this is a federal road,” as if to absolve the state of any responsibility.
Governor Okpebholo has flipped the script. He didn’t start his administration with loud declarations or endless ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Instead, he started with work—real, tangible work.
In just two months, Governor Okpebholo has demonstrated that governance is about delivering results, not excuses. The Benin-Auchi Road by Obadan Junction, long neglected, has received the needed attention. The failed portions of the Benin-Abuja Road in Ekpoma, which seemed destined to remain a nightmare for travelers, are now under repair. Roads that were mere campaign promises in the past, like Upper Ekenwan Road, are nearing completion.
Even the Aduwawa-Upper Mission Junction, a project that felt like a distant dream, is now coming to life. And let’s not forget the Temboga-Uteh Road, which now wears the Governor’s signature of progress.
One resident put it succinctly: “In just two months, this man has done more than others did in eight years. He doesn’t make noise; he makes things happen.”
Beyond roads, Governor Okpebholo’s administration is tackling the long-neglected healthcare sector. The construction of a modern health center in Udomi, Irua, is a testament to his commitment. The 2025 budget allocates N63.9 billion to healthcare and an additional N1.8 billion for a health insurance scheme, ensuring that no Edo citizen is left behind.
One of the most commendable moves of Governor Okpebholo’s administration has been his decisive action to sanitize Edo’s markets. By placing a ban on market unions, which had long been accused of oppressive and exploitative practices, the governor has brought relief to traders and consumers alike. These unions had been driving up the prices of food and commodities through arbitrary levies and monopolistic control, leaving ordinary Edo citizens to bear the brunt.
In his words, “Markets should be places of commerce and community, not oppression. We cannot allow a few individuals to profit at the expense of the majority.”
Since the ban, market prices have begun to stabilize, and traders have expressed gratitude for the governor’s intervention.
Edo State has not been immune to the scourge of insecurity, particularly the alarming rise in cult-related killings that claimed over 100 lives in 2024. Governor Okpebholo has tackled this issue head-on, adopting a consultative and inclusive approach. Through interagency consultations and his robust security meetings, he has fostered collaboration among law enforcement agencies and local communities.
This proactive engagement has led to a significant de-escalation of tensions and a peaceful resolution to many conflicts. As one community leader observed, “For the first time, we feel heard. The governor is not just issuing orders; he’s listening and acting.”
Another area where Governor Okpebholo has demonstrated his commitment to justice is in addressing the contentious issue of land grabbing. Under the previous administration, many communities and individuals saw their lands forcefully taken, their properties destroyed, and their voices silenced.
Governor Okpebholo has taken a firm stance, declaring that such lands will be restored to their rightful owners, provided they can present proof of ownership. This policy has brought renewed hope to many Edo citizens who had all but given up on ever reclaiming their ancestral lands.
“The government is here to serve the people, not to oppress them,” the governor stated. “We will right the wrongs of the past and ensure justice prevails.”
Governor Okpebholo’s 2025 budget, aptly titled the “Budget of Renewed Hope for a Rising Edo,” is a roadmap to sustainable development. With 63% of the N604 billion budget earmarked for capital expenditure, it’s clear where his focus lies.
* Road Development: N162 billion
* Education: N48 billion
* Health: N63.9 billion
* Agriculture: N75 billion
This is not just a budget; it is a statement of intent. It reflects the governor’s five-point agenda—security, infrastructure, healthcare, food sufficiency, and education—augmented by a renewed focus on agriculture.
Governor Okpebholo’s approach to governance can be likened to a diligent farmer. While others scatter seeds carelessly, hoping for a quick harvest, he tills the soil, plants with precision, and nurtures the crops. The results are already visible, and the harvest promises to be bountiful.
In reforming local government administration, the governor has brought discipline and transparency to a system that was previously plagued by inefficiency. His bold steps are setting a new standard for accountability and service delivery.
Governor Monday Okpebholo is proving that leadership is not about noise but results. He is confounding the critics and inspiring the citizens. As Apostle Paul wrote, God uses the weak and despised to bring about great things, and in Edo State, this truth is playing out before our very eyes.
Edo is rising, not on the wings of empty promises, but on the back of a governor who understands that actions speak louder than words. Indeed, Governor Okpebholo has become the farmer who sows in silence and reaps in abundance—a leader who delivers hope, one project at a time.
Fred Itua is the Chief Press Secretary to Edo State Governor
