Inside the mind of Boko Haram ex-commanders

Some members of the Boko Haram group who recently surrendered to Nigerian troops are beginning to confess their ugly experiences, National Daily has gathered.

One of them is Adamu Rugurugu, a former leader of the proscribed body, who has disclosed that some of the insurgents were kidnapped and conscripted forcefully.

Rugurugu said he decided to leave the organisation because he and others were being sent to die while their leader remained in hideouts.

Adamu Rugurugu, a former Boko Haram commander in northeast Nigeria, is certain that the terrorist group is nothing short of a scam.

Rugurugu confessed that most of the time, leaders of the group hide in forests from Nigerian troops and send low-ranking members to be wasted on battlefields.

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The repentant insurgent revealed that the kingpin brainwashed the rank and file by telling them that their abode is in heaven if they die as terrorists.

He claimed that most of the bandits and armed criminals were abducted by the ring-leaders who kept them in Sambisa Forest and conscripted them into their evil ideologies.

“The leaders are not attending the battle, it is only the low-ranking members that carry guns, have you ever heard of any ‘Khadi’ or ‘Wazir’ leading the battle on the frontlines? They will say you are doing this thing for the sake of God and when you are killed, paradise will be your final abode, I swear to God this is a scam, you are not going to any paradise.

“We cheated ourselves, and we will not go back again since God has now delivered us out of this predicament, we returned to the community and soldiers have accepted us.

Rugurugu’s message to other terrorists who still carry arms is that those who surrendered to troops did so because they are in search of a better life.

He went on to beg his former colleague to choose to be responsible, especially since the federal government is keeping its promise.

Meanwhile, more than 100 suspected Boko Haram insurgents and their families had surrendered to the Nigerian Army in Borno state.