By Olarewaju Kola
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria
Though it appears like an arduous task, Boko Haram has stepped up its recruitment of women as part of its violent campaign in Nigeria's troubled northeastern region.
The government believes the insurgent group is targeting female recruits to serve as informants and conduct espionage for its attacks, including the recent bombing of a shopping mall in Abuja and a market in Maiduguri – provincial capital of Borno State and birthplace of Boko Haram – which killed 50 people.
The army recently announced the arrest of three women described as members of Boko Haram's women wing.
"Information reveals that the suspects, led by Hafsat Bako, have the mission to recruit members into the female wing, as well as conduct espionage for the group," the army said in a statement.
"Intelligence has shown that the insurgents are becoming frustrated," a security source, who did not want to be named, told Anadolu Agency.
"Some of them haven't seen their wives and children for over two years because they are living in the bush and in camps," the source said.
"So they desperately look for women to stay with them and cook for them while they go out to attack," the source added.
Besides, the source added, some of the women end up being "indoctrinated to carry out other criminal acts, like spying on target areas, keeping and moving arms… for Boko Haram fighters, or carrying out suicide bombings at a price."
In mid-June, a woman carrying improvised explosive devices blew herself up at a military base in the northeastern Gombe State after failing to enter the base. At least five people, including soldiers, died.
Since July 2009, when it carried out its first offensive in Maiduguri, which claimed over 300 lives, Boko Haram has been operating with women.
"Some Boko Haram fighters who were mobilized from Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa and Gombe to Maiduguri in July 2009, when they first struck, came with their women/wives," Abubakar Jidda, a teacher, told AA.
"I remember the police arrested some of them where they were kept in a house on the city's outskirts," he recalled.
Some Maiduguri residents recalled that many suspected female members of the group had been arrested in the wake of a 2013 clampdown on local insurgents by club-wielding youths.
"A woman was arrested at Gwange with over 2000 rounds of ammunition hidden in a black nylon bag and another with AK-47 rifles under her veil, claiming they were sent to drop them at some locations within the metropolis by their husbands who are Boko Haram fighters," Abba Mohammed, a member of a local vigilante group, told AA.
"We arrested more than 20 women suspects in the city then," he recalled.
Maiduguri Diocesan's director of social communication, Fr. Gideon Obasogie, said Boko Haram's female wing included insurgents' wives and sympathizers.
"These ladies may be Boko Haram sympathizers, their wives or relations," he told AA.
"With insurgency, nobody can be trusted because usually insurgents use informants, spies and various people to get at soft targets," added Obasogie.
"Terrorists use anybody, so I'm not surprised they are using women," he noted.
He also said some of the women may support Boko Haram in return for money.
"Poverty is endemic here. You find a situation where some people, especially women whose husbands were killed either by Boko Haram or in clashes with security agencies, turn to the sect after a series of overtures," the catholic priest said.
But Dauda Pam, a journalist, believes otherwise.
For him, Boko Haram is merely exploring other means of destruction, using women to reach its targets.
"Having exhausted their destructive capacity, they now try to use women knowing full well they are generally perceived to be harmless and more accepted in here," he told AA.
"Many people will not likely suspect a lady or woman of carrying explosive devices or spying for Boko Haram," said Pam.
He urged local residents to be more vigilant.
"People should be more watchful now; the government ought to boost its anti-insurgency and counter-terrorism campaigns," he said.
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