Rawana Goni, a former Boko Haram
commander, has urged the Nigerian military to allow him convince Abubakar
Shekau and at least 137 other terrorists to surrender.
According to NAN, Goni is
undergoing rehabilitation at a military detention camp in Maiduguri, Borno
state.
The former Boko Haram commander
is from Bama in Borno state. He surrendered to the military in Cameroon after
escaping from Sambisa Forest eight months ago.
Goni said he has held several
positions in 10 different cells of Boko Haram in Sambisa, adding that his last
position was as the chief officer of dispute resolution for the group.
“I rescued people sentenced to
death and minimised punishment of those who committed crimes. I am one of the
most influential persons in the group and they always listened and abided by
what I said,” he said.
“I joined Boko Haram because of
the condition I found myself in the last five years. When the insurgents
invaded Bama town, I ran with my family to Cameroon thinking I was in a safe
destination. But on reaching Cameroon, I was shocked to realise that I brought
myself into another Boko Haram camp. By that time, I knew I would not survive
without joining the group.
“Days after my induction, we
opened a permanent camp at the Cameroon border and named the forest “Aluska”.
It was in that camp that I learnt all types of trainings including handling
weapons.
“After the training, we embarked
on our first mission. We invaded a military formation in Cameroon, dislodged
the soldiers and took many weapons from their armoury. We couldn’t take any
vehicle because the area was surrounded by river.
“We took the weapons we recovered
to our leader Abubakar Shekau and briefed him on our success. He was happy that
five of us could dislodge a military formation. After congratulating us, he
appointed me to lead the group and returned our weapons to us.
“Few days later, I recruited many
fighters, because as a commander, you are expected to have no fewer than 250
fighting troops.
“With the new fighting force, we
invaded Waza village, Damaga and Banki. We also invaded Bama which is my
hometown.
“I was touched to see my people
being tortured and killed, while many women and children were living in
excruciating hardship. So I decided to pass a message to my fellow insurgents
from Bama and we formed a group comprising about 137 persons to help our people
in prison to escape.
“I was able to rescue about 300
hostages at the prison facility in Bama. I usually lied to the guards at the
prison that I was going to kill the inmates. But I would take them to a safe
place in Konduga and ask them to run to a safer destination.
“Many of the prisoners were
exposed to hard labour while some were used as guinea-pigs at shooting range by
new arms handlers among Boko Haram,” he said.
Goni told NAN that Abubakar
Shekau is healthy and that they are in constant communication.
“Nothing happened to him. He
broke his leg five years ago while riding on a horse. But he had since
recovered. Anyone saying Shekau is sick is only deceiving himself. We used to
communicate through radiophone but not any more,” he said.
Goni urged the military to let
him tell Shekau and other insurgents that he is still alive.
“My 137 boys are on standby to
hear I am still alive and I can assure you they will run out of Sambisa Forest
and surrender to the military. I once told them to surrender and they said we
shall all get killed. But I told them that I will surrender and they said if
nothing happened to me, they will all come out,” he said.
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com