The Nigeria Army on Tuesday said it had uncovered a Facebook and other social media accounts, allegedly used by a faction of the Boko Haram group to recruit new members.
Major Murtala Usman, Artillery Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, who disclosed this while speaking at the ongoing Nigerian Army Combat Support Training Week in Maiduguri, said the social media accounts had 2,000 followers.
Usman said that insurgents from the Albarnawi faction of the Boko Haram group were recruiting new members on social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, SnapChat, Instagram and the Youtube.
He said the army discovered this while interrogating a “highly placed Boko Haram commander known as Malu-Mamman Barde’’, who was tracked and apprehended 40km South of Rann area in Kala-Balge Local Government Area of Borno.
“Barde is among the most wanted Boko Haram suspect that had committed so many atrocities against humanity.
“Through the suspect’s mobile phone, we found several videos soliciting finance for the group. We also found some other videos where Barde was seen preaching Jihad and the ideology of the group.
“Most of Barde’s pictures were that of Abu-Mosad Albarnawi and other Boko Haram fighter posing with Anti-Air craft guns, rockets and Boko Haram flag,’’ he said.
Earlier speaking, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai said that the training was to draw up strategies for various military operations across the country.
Burutai was represented by the Commander of Training and Doctrine, Maj.-Gen. Abubakar Salihu.
He added that the training was designed to adopt new strategies to combat insecurity in the country through brainstorming and reviewing of operations.
“The nation faces series of security challenges, including Boko Haram insurgency, farmers/herders crisis, kidnapping, armed robbery, banditry and violence, among others.
Maj.-Gen. Abubabkar Tarfa, the Corp Commander Artillery, said the week-long training was a veritable platform for generating ideas for the combat arms.
The theme of the training was “Strengthening Combat Support Arms Cooperation in Contemporary Security Challenges.’’
Tarfa said it was designed to generate strategies for confronting current security challenges in the country.
