Against the backdrop of increasing rate of female minors’ involvement in suicide bombing in the country, a Jos-based legal practitioner Mallam Haroun Audu, and the executive director, Eyanmanu Language Development Consult Jos, Mrs Augustina Otori, spoke on the issue. They emphasised that parents especially mothers should intensify and redirect parenting of their children. Audu first spoke on the issue.
FOR some minors who have not achieved anything in life to be involved in such suicide bombing, There is increasing rate of female minors’ involvement in the suicide bombing. What do you think is the attraction, economically and religiously?
I think in analysing the involvement of relatively young people in the spate of suicide bombing as we have experienced in this country, we need to situate it in the context of ideological warfare that is going on for the minds of both the young and old. You find that people are angling to acquire influence in the area of politics, in the area of finance, but also in the area of religion however twisted that religion is.
And we all know that the young people have very impressionable minds and the people who are waging this heinous campaign know very well that it is easier really to brainwash adolescents and young people than the adults who are exposed who have some level of education. We do know that some adults have also been recruited but in this particular case, the phenomenon of young people, it will seem to me that it is not so much about attraction as it is a campaign of indoctrination where they are made to believe a lie.
“But we also do know that this entire architecture of terrorism is funded, there is money involved. So some of them do get material benefits and hereafter some of them are promised other benefits. In the history of terrorists, generally, especially in the Middle East, we have seen how parents even encourage their children because there is monetary benefit.
The children are not going to benefit. The children end up losing their lives. I am really worried about such parents. There is no sensible attraction other than evil and a satanic disposition of the sponsors.”
Why the rapid increase in female suicide bombing?
I think that we as a country we are not being honest to admit that there are fringe elements within the several levels of government, even the security agencies that may have hands in what is going on. I think that the entire security apparatus in Nigeria needs to do an inward reflection of how it has been, for example, confronting terrorism in Nigeria. There are stories of internal saboteurs and fifth columnists. With the increase we are witnessing, it is clear that there is Nigerian element in the whole problem. I believe that we also need to look inward that we do have people who seem hell bent on creating a state of anarchy.
What is the way out of this debacle?
We have shot ourselves in the foot as a nation where the entire political leadership has opted to carve this narrative of terrorism thing in terms of a huge device and we have forgotten that what unites us is our humanity and first we are Nigerians, we are human beings and we have our religious differences. Terrorism is not about Christians or Muslims. We have seen terrorist activities of Islamic radical types hurting Christians and Muslims alike. First of all we need to unite as a people and recognise that we are as good as the next person because first of all we are human beings.”
In her own remarks, Otori saw no attraction in female suicide bombing, adding that parents are actually responsible for such conduct because children are actually born blank. “A child is like a slate. It what is what you write on it that it can comprehend.
