The Defence Headquarters has warned youths in the North East to avoid accepting loans from the men of the Boko Haram.
The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, said in a statement on Wednesday that the Boko Haram has resorted to using loan as a bait to recruit fighters in the North East.
Abubakar said that the insurgents were targeting young entrepreneurs and artisans such butchers, traders, tailors, beauticians and other vocational entrepreneurs in the current drive for recruitment.
According to him, the insurgents were desperate to recruit new members because their population had been seriously decimated by the military in the ongoing operation flush them out of the area.
He advised the youth ps of the area to accept loans from only conventional financial institution as accepting the bait of the insurgents could lead to a disastrous end.
The Acting Defence Spokesman said that it was pattern of the insurgents to give out the loans to unsuspecting youths who would be threatened to either join the group of face being killed if they failed to repay the loan.
He said, “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. 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 as at 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 ranks and files as a result of sustained onslaught against them by the troops.”
He urged the general public in the North East to be wary of the various antics of the Boko Haram and to avoid any loan or financial assistance from them.
“They should be guided to avoid 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,” he added
