Nigerian activist, Aisha Wakil, popularly ‘Mama Boko Haram’, says Boko Haram members want to stop their activities because their “hearts bleed because of what they are doing” and “they need peace”.
In an interview with Punch, Wakil said the recent abduction of 110 schoolgirls from Government Girls Science and Technology College, Yobe, was a stunt by the sect to show that it is still around, contrary to the army’s claim.
Wakil said there was a need to engage Boko Haram in dialogue, adding that she will never cut her ties with the insurgent group.
“These children, they have listening ears, so they listen. They hear everything and they have hearts. Their hearts bleed because of what they are doing. They want to stop, honestly, they want to stop,” Wakil said.
“You know, so far there has been no serious move going on for them to come out so they have to make some noise. It is just like when a man needs his wife and the wife is not forthcoming, he starts rejecting food…but I know that deep down in Habib, Nur and their group, they need peace.
“They are destroying properties and human lives. They are doing all that and we should now keep quiet and allow them to go on? My voice may not reach all but this my voice has got to the leader and they listen. If everybody now keeps quiet, what will be the result? It will be complete chaos. Oh, no, I even encourage more people to come out and talk – keep talking.
In a recent interview, Wakil had described one of the insurgents, Habib, as her son. She identified the said Habib to be “the son of Mohammed Yusuf. So that was why I called him my son”.
Wakil said Habib listens to her because he is “mild and calm”.
She said: “Habib, from what I heard, is so angry about the way his father was killed and he is also somebody that one can talk to because he has a soft heart like his father. If the father were alive today, this thing would not have happened.
Wakil was a member of the Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges Committee in the northern region. The committee was set up by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
