Former Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ahmed Rufai, has recounted how a rescued Chibok schoolgirl expressed a need to return to her Boko Haram husband regardless of being reunited together with her household, highlighting the complexities of rescuing and reintegrating victims of terrorism.
Recall that Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, on April 14, 2014, triggering nationwide and worldwide outrage. Although a few of the women escaped or have been subsequently launched, many remained in captivity for years, with some compelled into marriages with insurgents.
Speaking at a world discussion board in Qatar, Rufai, also called Sardaunan Katsina, defined that terrorist abductions have been motivated by various factors, together with ideology, political aims and monetary acquire, requiring totally different approaches from safety companies.
Recounting the case of the rescued Chibok schoolgirl, the previous intelligence chief mentioned the lady had been married to 3 Boko Haram fighters, together with her first two husbands killed in fight.
He mentioned she was finally rescued and brought to Abuja, the place she underwent medical examinations and debriefing.
According to Rufai, the lady spoke positively a couple of Boko Haram zonal commander who had taken her beneath his care and organized new marriages for her following the deaths of her earlier husbands.
He mentioned, “She had a godfather who was a zonal commander of the terrorist group, who adopted her as a daughter. Each time she lost her husband in the fight, he would be the one to get her a new husband.”
Rufai mentioned the lady’s response after her rescue was significantly hanging, as she needed to see her dad and mom however didn’t need to stay with them.
“She loved them. She wanted to see them, and so on. And then the third interesting thing is that we subjected her to medical checks, and we found her very healthy. But the interesting thing is that she wanted to go back,” he mentioned.
The former NIA director mentioned the expertise demonstrated the difficult circumstances safety companies encounter when coping with victims who’ve spent years in captivity and developed relationships inside terrorist teams.
On the motivations behind terrorist abductions, Rufai mentioned some teams kidnapped victims to attract consideration to their causes somewhat than to demand ransom.
“In most cases, it was political, to make their case known,” he mentioned.
He defined that the place abductors have been primarily motivated by monetary acquire, discreet negotiations might be essential to safe the discharge of hostages.
“In a situation where they really needed money, they would let it be known, and there, in that kind of situation, you have to use what we discussed yesterday: hostage diplomacy, and it has to be through back channels,” he mentioned.
Rufai added that such negotiations might contain trusted intermediaries who had established relationships with the abductors.
He mentioned the method required discretion, with negotiations performed with out publicising delicate particulars.
The former intelligence chief additionally distinguished ideologically motivated terrorist teams from prison gangs concerned in kidnapping for ransom, noting that the latter have been primarily pushed by monetary acquire.
“They are not ideologically driven. They have no ideology. They want to enjoy life. They are not looking forward to dying and going to paradise. Their paradise is here,” he mentioned.
Rufai described kidnapping for ransom as a significant safety problem in Nigeria, including that the federal government was making efforts to deal with the issue.
He additional disclosed that some prison networks have been concerned in different actions, together with arms trafficking, automobile theft and assaults on safety personnel.
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