Defence
Headquarters (DHQ) says Boko Haram has devised new methods of recruiting
unsuspecting youth -- by providing them with business loans.
The group
uses secret means to provide loans to young entrepreneurs and artisans in the
North East as a way of inducing them for recruitment, a statement on Wednesday
from DHQ spokesman Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar said.
He added
that the major targets of the business engagement are youth in the North East,
especially butchers, traders, tailors, beauticians and other vocational
entrepreneurs.
They are
vulnerable because they could be easily enticed with such loans without paying
attention to inherent dangers associated with the acceptance from unfamiliar
sources, said the Defence headquarters.
According to
Abubakar, “After such loans, the beneficiaries are given the option of either
joining the group or risk being killed if they fail to pay the loan as at when
due, whereas the payment has been surreptitiously programmed to fail by the
benefactor, the Boko Haram.”
Abubakar
also said the remnant or surviving splinter groups of Boko Haram are desperate
to recruit more people because of the sustained onslaught against them by
troops.
He called on
the general public especially those in the North East, to constantly be weary
and conscious of various tactics of the desperate Boko Haram.
Abubakar
called on the public to avoid loan or financial assistance from
non-conventional sources apart from financial institutions such as banks,
organised trade unions or institutionalised savings and loans establishments.
“Acting
otherwise may lead to painful and untimely death from the blood-thirsty Boko
Haram terrorists,” the EFCC stated.
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