Gen. Irabor’s Book Exposes Boko Haram’s Sexual Violence Tactics and Drug Use
Former Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor (Rtd.), has painted a harrowing picture of Boko Haram terrorists in his newly released book, “Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum,” describing them as “sex maniacs” who derive pleasure from the sexual exploitation of women and children.
In the 300-page military memoir, which was reviewed by PRNigeria, Irabor discloses that the varying traumatic encounters in communities ravaged by Boko Haram included deliberate killing, maiming, and widespread rape. Many women and girls were abducted specifically to be used as sex slaves.
Irabor further disclosed that the recovery of sexual enhancement drugs in captured Boko Haram camps indicates that lechery forms part of their modus operandi, suggesting a motive driven by pure criminality and bizarre lifestyles.
The book underscores how the insurgency has inflicted deep and varied scars across the nation. Irabor recounts major acts of savagery, including the abduction of 276 students from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok (April 14, 2014) and those from the Dapchi technical college (February 19, 2018). Two months before the Chibok kidnapping, Boko Haram killed all 59 students of the Federal Government College Buni Yadi by burning them to death.
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Irabor notes that these accounts unfortunately deepened the religious divide in the country. He highlights the case of Leah Sharibu, who remains captive due to her Christian faith, which fueled acrimony and strengthened arguments of religious bias among some Christian faithful.
However, Irabor challenges the notion of sectarian targeting, noting that the victims of Boko Haram cut across all religious and ethnic divides. He points out that military cemeteries, such as the one in Maiduguri, show a near-equal division of Christian and Muslim graves among fallen troops, emphasizing that the violence is a terrorist tactic and not a deliberate policy by the government or any ethnic group.
Beyond the battlefield, the memoir details the immense psychological toll on soldiers, who often suffered from emotional strain, marital breakdowns, and PTSD due to long deployments. Irabor highlights the severe emotional trauma for caregivers, often health workers, who also exhibit symptoms of PTSD, mental exhaustion, and anxiety.
The former CDS stressed that the cost of insecurity to Nigeria is enormous and unquantifiable, creating a significant deficit in the national treasury that should have been dedicated to development.
He also notes the impact on foreign policy, where Nigeria’s consistently poor ranking on the Global Terrorism Index has assaulted its international reputation and posture, forcing the country to reassess its diplomatic engagements, particularly concerning military hardware procurement.
Irabor concludes that the extensive agony and damage demand a collective response at all costs to prevent the rise of terrorist organizations like Boko Haram.
By PRNigeria
