By ‘Dotun Akintomide
Falmata Abubakar, the mother of the Boko Haram factional leader, Shekau Abubakar, has regretted the many havocs wreaked by her son on innocent citizens following decade of attacks and hostilities against Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Camerounian governments by the terrorist organization.
Shekau’s mother disclosed this in an interview with the Voice of America (VOA) in a village, called Shekau in Yobe State.
“Where can I meet him to tell him that these things he is doing is very bad? He brought many problems to many people, but I am praying for God to show him the good way.” She said.
The father of Shekau, died a few years ago, VOA reported as the mother also said she has not seen Shekau in 15 years.
Until his death Shekau’s father who passed away a few years ago was a local district Imam.
Also, in the interview, Falmata, who spoke to the media for first time, said she has not seen Shekau, her son in 15 years.
Falmata said she had never spoken to journalists before VOA approached her, and she does not know where her son is hiding.
“I don’t now if he’s alive or dead. I don’t know. It’s only God who knows. For 15 years I haven’t seen him,” she said.
She said her son left Shekau village as a boy to continue his Islamic education in Maiduguri, a center of religious studies for hundreds of years.
Shekau was an almajiri. In the generations-old tradition, Almajiris are sent off by their parents to study the Quran in schools locally known as a tsangaya, where a teacher coaches the dozens, sometimes hundreds of male students, to memorize the entire Quran.
Almajiris beg on the streets for food, and it is believed that Shekau did the same. At some point in his studies, Shekau, according to his mother, met Mohammed Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram, who condemned Western education as sinful. Falmata says her son was brainwashed.
“Since Shekau met with Mohammed Yusuf, I didn’t see him again,” she told VOA.
“Yes, he’s my son and every mother loves her son, but we have different characters,” she said.
“He brought a lot of problem to many people. Where can I meet him to tell him that these things he is doing is very bad? He brought many problems to many people, but I am praying for God to show him the good way.”
Mohammed Yusuf was killed by Nigerian security agents in 2009, and Abubakar Shekau then took over as the leader.
Shekau is accused of leading an insurgency that has killed more than 30,000 people in northeastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad region.
Destroying schools is at the heart of Boko Haram’s manifesto, and the group has attacked more than 1,400 schools, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund.
