A group of child soldiers belonging to the Boko Haram/Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists group surrendered to troops of the Nigerian Army in Gwoza, Northeast Nigeria.
The surrendered Boko Haram/ISWAP child soldiers, whose ages range from 13 to 22, were led by Mr Salihu Abubakar (42), who claimed to be their leader.
They include Umoru Gadagada (13); Bello Hassan (18), Abdullahi Idrisa (12); Sa’adub Saleh (15); Shuaibu Ahmodu (22).
The BH/ISWAP members claimed to have escaped from Jaje in Sambisa Forest general area and they surrendered to troops of 192 Battalion deployed along Gwoza-Limankara road.
Items recovered include several arms and ammunition.
With several schools in the North shut down, some of the children may have ostensibly be lured into insurgency through juicy offers and other religious indoctrination. Many others may also have been kidnapped and forcefully recruited.
Eons Intelligence, which first reported the surrender of the child soldiers, said “there is urgent need for Military Intelligence to be deployed, locate and destroy the camp(s) where these child soldiers are being harboured and trained as a way to break the cycle of insurgency.”
