Seated outside the dock in a Maiduguri courtroom, her entire body veiled from head-to-toe with her typical adornment of niqab that leaves only a tiny opening for her pair of eyes glasses, Aisha Wakil, aka Mama Boko Haram (mother to Boko Haram), listened calmly as the judge read out the ruling on a request by her lawyer who had earlier prayed the court to grant her bail.
Mama Boko Haram was in the court to defend allegations of a multimillion-naira fraud filed against her by Nigeria’s anti-graft body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
It was Monday, December 5, 2019. She, alongside two other suspects, Tahir Daura and Prince Lawal Shoyade, was arranged before Justice Aisha Kumalia of the Borno State High Court, Maiduguri. They were standing trial in a N66 million fraud allegation case.
The two other defendants worked in her NGO, Complete Care and Aid Foundation (CCAF).
Kumalia granted the bail but with a bail bond of N30 million and provision of two sureties who must be at the level of permanent secretary in the state. HumAngle gathered none of them was able to fulfil the bail conditions.
The EFCC charged them to court on an amended five-count charge, bordering on “conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence and cheating, to the tune of N111.6 million”.
While they pleaded not guilty to the charges, Benjamin Manji, the EFCC lawyer, applied for a trial date and asked the court to remand the defendants in prison pending the case’s determination.
The Judge granted this request and adjourned the case until February 10, 2020, for the commencement of trial.
That was the beginning of what now appears like an unending stay of the woman many revered for her closeness to the Boko Haram fighters.
The EFCC had continued to bring in fresh charges against her and her colleagues at CCAF – all bordering on alleged advance fee fraud. The EFCC had three different cases, one at a Federal High Court and two at the Borno State High Court.
There have been several allegations of unwholesome practices against those who ought to be providing lifesaving services for persons affected by the decades-old insurgency in the northeast.
Wakil has earned international fame for her claims to help the Nigerian Government end the insurgency by leveraging on her contacts with some members of the Boko Haram terrorist group whom she generally referred to as her “children” whenever she urged them to embrace peace.
Until her current ordeal, she bestrode the conflict arena as a major factor in the government’s efforts to halt violent extremism.
Her health status adds to her predicament during the trial- she is often lifted in and out of courtroom due to difficulty to walk by herself.
The Promises, The Drama
In 2012, she strangely led a group of supposed leaders of Boko Haram to the Borno State Government House where they promised that they could prevail on their members in the bush to lay down their arms.
The promises were made after they listed the insurgents’ terms and demands. It was later gathered that Mama Boko Haram had dragged some of the “leaders” to court for allegedly defrauding her of some money. The entire drama turned out to have likely been staged by her.
Mama Boko Haram later organised a “wailing rally” of mothers and widows in Maiduguri who addressed the media in tears while calling on the insurgents to lay down their arms and embrace peace, and also release the abducted Chibok Girls.
In November 2012, Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulazeez, a purported Boko Haram commander, listed Aisha Wakil amongst other prominent Borno citizens, including Justice Wakil Gana, her husband, as those who could mediate for a ceasefire on behalf of the Nigerian government.
Others on the list of trusted negotiators were Muhammadu Buhari (then candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change), Dr Shettima Ali Monguno (now late), former Yobe State Governor, Bukar Abba Ibrahim, and Ambassador. Gaji Galtimarin (now late).
The so-called Boko Haram deputy commander, who later turned out to be a fluke, insisted that the dialogue for a ceasefire must not take place in Nigeria, but in Saudi Arabia. That dialogue never saw the light of the day.
Although there has not been any evidence of Mama Boko Haram successfully brokering a peace deal between the government and members of Boko Haram or facilitating the release of any known hostage from the captivity of the armed insurgents, she still, at some point, managed to become the only visible link to reaching across to the insurgents.
On April 24, 2013, she became a member of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Challenges in the North – a committee that was set up by the government to achieve a possible amnesty for repentant Boko Haram members.
While the committee, which was headed by Barrister Kabiru Turaki, a former Minister of Special Duties, had submitted its report, nothing much has been done concerning its recommendations.
Wakil in recent media comments said that the Nigerian government had not displayed enough sincerity in dealing with the Boko Haram insurgents and squandered opportunities for fruitful negotiations with the insurgents.
“At that time, members of Boko Haram wanted immunity and pardon for themselves and their members. If the government had fulfilled the demands, these people were ready to be disarmed and come back home,” she told Anadolu Agency.
Mama Boko Haram’s NGO Scandal
Over time, Mama Boko Haram began to lose her steam as a trusted character with direct links to the insurgents and her waning influence continued to worsen.
Within this period, she settled to quietly run her new NGO, the Complete Care and Aid Foundation, an outfit set up to provide humanitarian support for persons affected by the insurgency in Northeast Nigeria.
The NGO was a low-profile outfit that did not attract so much public attention until the EFCC began to beam its searchlight on it late in 2018. It was alleged that the CCAF was a subterfuge for the commission of fraud.
According to court records and the EFCC, Mama Boko Haram and her colleagues had been involved in alleged multiple cases of advance fee fraud and some unwholesome enterprises that appeared more like a Ponzi Scheme.
