“I can tell you that many of these (Boko Haram) fighters don’t know how to perform simple ablution (ritual purification), not to talk of how to do prayers.
“We have to start teaching them after we brought them to Maiduguri.”
These revelations were made by the Special Adviser to Borno State governor on Security, retired Brigadier General Abdullahi Ishaq while speaking to newsmen.
Ishaq said that many of the fighters regretted their action against Nigeria, saying that they were misled by Abubakar Shekau.
“Let me say this: many of his commanders were bitter after he committed suicide because that act contradicted what he preached.”
The fighters who had since surrendered to government forces, said that late Shekau left behind 83 concubines.
According to the special adviser, some of late Shekau’s associates told him about his concubines after they surrendered and embraced peace.
“We started this non-kinetic approach 16 months ago; the model started shortly after the death of Abubakar Shekau and the state government didn’t want Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) to continue using the Shekau’s fighters. “We know it would be deadly.
“So, the first set of fighters that I received in Bama told me that Shekau had 83 concubines. Just imagine he left behind 83 concubines.
“They said he is now in hell because he committed suicide during his clash with other fraction. He always told them to go out and fight and that if they die in the process, several virgins are waiting for them.”
Shekau was killed in May 2021 during a supremacy fight with ISWAP at the Sambisa Forest, Borno State.