Man accused in Boko Haram abduction of Chibok girls arrested

The assault – which passed off in Deffa province close to Nigeria, elements of whose northeast are underneath Boko Haram management – was the deadliest in Niger by the jihadist group since a raid in April killed 74 individuals.

Young girls have been used as suicide bombers by Boko Haram, and there are now increasing fears that some of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls might be among them.

Some of the school girls captured by Boko Haram past year have been forced to fight for the terrorist group and have been brainwashed by Islamist militants, according to other captives who have escaped.

Khamis said forces seized various weapons, communication materials, documents and more than 50 SIM cards from Fanaye’s home.

Buhari came to office last month vowing to crush a six-year insurgency by Boko Haram that has killed thousands.

When she refused, they slit the throats of four men in front of her – and said she would suffer the same fate if she didn’t co-operate.

“They were Christian men”.

Three women who claim they were held in the same camps as some of the Chibok girls have told the BBC’s Panorama programme that some of them have been brainwashed and are now carrying out punishments on behalf of the militants.

(The girls) told us: “You women should learn from your husbands because they are giving their blood for the cause”.

When pressed on how she could be sure that it is was the Chibok schoolgirls that she’d seen, Anna said: “They [Boko Haram] didn’t hide them”.

“The abduction and brutalisation of young women and girls seems to be part of the modus operandi of Boko Haram“, Netsanet Belay, Africa director, research and advocacy at Amnesty worldwide told the BBC.

“People were tied and laid down and the girls took it from there…”

Dr Fatima Akilu, of Nigeria’s counter-violence and extremism programme, said she hadn’t seen signs of radicalisation among the 300 rescued women and children she is now looking after.

The governors had also received the report of the North-East Transformation Strategy, tagged; “Development Agenda” which is a follow-up to the last year’s North-East Economic Forum.