Boko Haram recruited three local gangs in northwest Nigeria to kidnap hundreds of schoolboys on its behalf, security and local sources said on Wednesday.
The militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack on Friday last week that targeted a secondary school in the town of Kankara, in Katsina state.
However, sources said that the operation was carried out on Boko Haram’s orders by a notorious local gangster called Awwalun Daudawa.
Photo: AP
The 43-year-old worked in collaboration with Idi Minorti and Dankarami, two other crime chiefs with strong local followings, they said.
Criminal gangs, known locally as “bandits,” have terrorized communities in northwest Nigeria for years and experts have said that militants would attempt to forge an alliance with them.
Daudawa “was an armed robber and a cattle rustler before he turned to gunrunning, bringing in weapons from Libya, where he had received training, and selling them to bandits,” a security source said.
“Over time, he forged an alliance with Boko Haram and became their gunrunner, taking weapons the group seizes from the Nigerian security forces in raids and ambushes, and selling them to bandits for a cut,” the source said.
“Awwalun Daudawa was spotted in the forest in the Kankara area, where he recently relocated and there were reports that he was planning something, but it was not clear what it was,” the source added.
Another source with intimate knowledge of “bandit” activities in Katsina and Zamfara states said: “From available information, Awwalun Daudawa was ordered by Abubakar Shekau to kidnap the schoolboys, and he enlisted the help of Idi Minorti and Dankarami.”
“After the children were taken, they went across the border into Zamfara state and split them among different gangs ‘for safekeeping,’” the source said. “Some of the gangs have been in touch with the authorities for the release of the boys.”
The attack occurred hundreds of kilometers from Boko Haram’s stronghold in northeast Nigeria, where it launched a brutal insurgency a decade ago.
The militants made a claim of responsibility in a four-minute audio, sent to Agence France-Presse through the same channel as previous messages from the group.
“I am Abubakar Shekau and our brothers are behind the kidnapping in Katsina,” said the voice in the recording, resembling that of the elusive Boko Haram leader.
Shekau was behind the 2014 abduction of 276 schoolgirls in Chibok that sparked global outrage.
However, another source said that there is an ongoing peace pact between bandits and the Zamfara state government, which the bandits do not want to breach.
“They have been under intense pressure to release the boys,” the source added.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was