There are dangers that the 219 abducted Chibok schoolgirls may end up being indoctrinated as members of the Boko Haram sect or even help to carry out attacks if nothing is done to end their continuous stay in captivity of the insurgents, a top security source who wouldn’t want to be named said.
The security source who has some expertise on criminal psychology told LEADERSHIP Sunday in an exclusive interview that the chances are 50:50 that some of the abducted girls would by now begin to imbibe or get indoctrinated to support the cause of the Boko Haram.
The source said that there are strong argument currently being advanced within the security circle that the young girl that carried out the recent suicide bombing at a military check post in Gombe State could be one of the girls that were in captivity.
“We are faced by two dangers now; one is the fear that these girls could be killed and the other is that they could be turned into some tools by the insurgents who may begin to use them as spies or agents to execute their heinous activities,” said the source.
“Already, if what we are suspecting is anything to go by, the girl that carried out the suicide bombing that claimed her life and that of a soldier may be one of the girls that had been abducted. It is a known fact that a female suicide bomber had not been reported so far, and suddenly we begin to record young girls now carrying out suicide attacks; one would be forced to ask where did the girl emerged from”?
“Psychologically, it takes about 21 days for one to pick up a habit or drop it”, explained the source. “The danger is that these are very young and ill-exposed schoolgirls, some of them, judging from our interactions with those that had escaped, were village girls who hardly travel far out of their communities, local government or the state. Now some grown up men picked them up and kept them for over 65 days, feeding them with nice foods; probably what they had never eaten before, clothing them, and continually preach to them to see their activities as the genuine worship of God, and then perhaps making some sexual advance on them. Over time, the poor girls would begin to have a change of whatever negative thoughts they may have harboured about the insurgents and then begin to fall in love with them, and with what they stand for”.
The top security source said once the girls got so indoctrinated, there are chances that even if they are rescued, they could still harbour some affection for their captors.
“That is why government had to shelve its politics and sanction an operation that will quickly bring these girls back home, lest we are toying with possible new converts of Boko Haram that could be used to do more havoc”, said the source.
On what could be done should the girls eventually get released, he said that “the girls must be subjected to serious psychological counselling; and experts in the security circle must have to thoroughly debrief them in order to ascertain any possible trace of indoctrination especially from those that may have professed new faith other than what they practiced before they were abducted”.
Source: Leadership
