Few had heard of Aisha Wakili until the Nigerian Military declared her wanted in connection with the abduction of the Chibok girls. Many wonder what’s the connection between the kidnapped Chibok girls and this Lawyer of Igbo extraction who is best remembered as the lady pictured in full Burka shaking hands with Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan during the inauguration of the Boko Haram Amnesty Committee.
Popularly known as Mama Boko Haram, Aisha Wakili was not born in Maiduguri but was born a Christian in the South East state of Abia. However during her sojourn in Maiduguri where she obtained her Law degree she had a life changing event.
It is rumored that mysteriously writings of the Holy Koran began to appear all over her body which made her a cynosure of attention as people trooped to see the strange Igbo girl with text tattooed on her skin. This heralded her conversion to Islam and soon after she had her first meeting with Mohammed Yusuf the founder of Boko Haram.
She served as a source of council to the Boko Haram Sect hence her moniker, Mama Boko Haram. She lived just a stone throw from Baba Fugu the Father in law of Mohammed Yusuf and was on first name basis with the likes of Abubakar Shekau and Al-Barnawi.
All this is known to the Military brass hence it is curious to see them acting as if Mama Boko Haram has just fallen from the sky and is thus a new person of interest.
She has always made plain her links with the sect however her voice was always drowned out by the din of Modu Sherrif the current defacto embattled factional PDP Chairman.
Mama Boko Haram always maintained that Modu Sherrif is the brain behind Boko Haram and was one of their sponsors in the early days until what she calls the “Great Betrayal”. According to her account Mohd Yusuf spoke extensively to her on how Modu Sherrif betrayed his kindred oncè he had used them to achieve his political agenda only turning round to usè the guise of a dispute over crash helmets to exterminate them extra judicially.
Aisha Wakili has always been a face known to the circles seeking peace with Boko Haram. Shè was the centre piece of the reconciliatory thrust of Governoŕ Kasim Shettima in which she outlined the coŕe demands of Boko Haram.
- Independent inquiry into the circumstances that led to the extra judicial killing of their leader Mohammed Yusuf and 3,000 sect members in 2009.
- Prosecution of those found culpable in the 2009 “massacre” of Boko Haram Sect members
- Release of Boko Haram detainees
- Compensation to those whose homes were destroyed in the 2009 uprising.
These demands were over ruled by the military top brass and never got the backing of the Goodluck Presidency thus Mama Boko Haram was pushed into the background once again.
But now the sect has pushed her back into the limelight.
With the kidnapping of the Chibok Girls and the latest video on their abduction, Aisha Wakili was mentioned by the masked gunman as one of the desired negotiators that the sect trusts to lead the charge for the girls release.
Indeed it is time to seize the moment. The public declaration of Aisha Wakili wanted by the Military brass serves no useful purpose when she is neither a fugitive nor an unknown quantity. Instead it is time to use her back channels to secure the release of the Chibok girls. That is the sensible thing to do.
Arresting and detaining Aisha Wakili will not bring back the Chibok girls hence intelligence and guile is required to use this woman to get the girls back.
Aisha Wakili remains an enigma. Can she be trusted? Doubtful but her links to Boko Haram run deep hence she remains a principal part of the jigsaw puzzle whose solution remains the successful rescue of the Chibok girls. That is the bottom-line
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