Boko Haram now gives loans as bait for membership

Nigerians have been warned of the antics of the Bokom Haram sect to recruit members into their fold, with the granting of loans to unsuspecting members of the public.

Those targeted for the loans are people believed to be young enterprenuers.

This much was disclosed by Acting Director of Defence Information, Brigadier-General Rabe Abubakar, on Wednesday, in Abuja.

He said that the grand plan of the insurgents was to lure young people through loans and recruit them as members when they default.

“It has come to the knowledge of the Defence Headquarters that Boko Haram terrorists have now devised another means of recruiting unsuspecting youths into their fold,” he said.

“In this clandestine dispensation, Boko Haram terrorists have resorted to providing loans to young entrepreneurs and artisans in the north-east as a way of inducing them for recruitment.

“The major targets of the unholy business engagement are youths in the north-east, especially the butchers, traders, tailors, beauticians and other vocational entrepreneurs, who could be easily enticed with such loan without paying attention to sundry inherent dangers associated with the acceptance of such goodies from this satanic group or unfamiliar source.

“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 when due, whereas the payment has been surreptitiously programmed to fail by the benefactor, the Boko Haram.

“It is pertinent to state that having been effectively decimated and degraded, the remnant or surviving splinter groups of Boko Haram are desperate to recruit more people into their rank and file as a result of sustained onslaught against them by the troops.

“The Defence Headquarters hereby advises the general public, especially those in the north-east, to constantly be wary and conscious of various tactics of the desperate Boko Haram.

“They should be guided to avoid any loan or financial assistance from non-conventional source but from conventional 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.”