Simply identifies as Amina, a failed 18-year-old Boko Haram suicide bomber, Amina, who was intercepted by men of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) yesterday morning, in Maiduguri, Borno State, confessed to security agents, she was given N200 for the mission.
She said her accomplice, who succeeded in detonating her bombs, also got N200.
Amina was one of two suicide bombers intercepted by NSCDC officials while attempting to detonate explosives around a long queue at NNPC mega station, along Damboa Road, in Maiduguri, yesterday.
Amina told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Maiduguri, that she was abducted two years ago by Boko Haram in Madagali, Adamawa, and taken to Sambisa forest.
“They gave us N200 each, which they said we should use to buy food for ourselves.
“ It took us three days to come to Maiduguri on a motorcycle. We were directed by the sect members to detonate our explosives any where we saw any form of gathering.
“They said if we press the button, the bomb would explode and we will automatically go to heaven.
“I was scared, so, I told them that I could not detonate any explosive. So, they said if Zainab detonated her own, it would serve the purpose. On our way to Maiduguri, we encountered the military and they were shooting. I was very scared and the people that brought us ran away.
“I am from Imam Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram, even though I have never seen Shekau. But, I hear about him in Gobarawa,” Amina said. She said her father, mother and younger brother, Umar, were all killed when they tried to escape from the Boko Haram enclave where they were held hostage.
“We came from Gobarawa along Damboa, Madagali and Algarno axis, in a community where a lot of us were held hostage and married off by the sect members.
“I also am married to a Boko Haram Commander known as “Amir.”
NSCDC Commandant in Borno, Abdullahi Ibrahim, said Amina has been handed over to the Garrison Commander, 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maiduguri, “ for proper investigation’.’
Theater Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Lucky Irabor, confirmed that Amina was in custody of the Army and that she would be investigated.
“We are going to profile her as she would give us the lead to get to other insurgents,” Irabor said.
Abdullahi told newsmen that the attempted bombing occurred at about 6.45am yesterday.
“Our personnel at the NNPC station intercepted two female suicide bombers who were targeting motorists on the long queue at the NNPC mega petrol station at about 6.45am.
“One of the bombers got scared and threw away her bomb and was instantly arrested, while the other one began to run after people with her explosive but, luckily, she was shot on the leg by our personnel after he chased her to a safe place,’’ Ibrahim said.
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