Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, formerly known as Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, have distributed Ramadan welfare packages and cash to some residents of Borno and Yobe states.

Reports emerged on social media on Tuesday afternoon saying the insurgents distributed rice, beans, millet, maize, sugar, spaghetti and cash gifts.

A security source said the gesture was to persuade the villagers to join the group’s ranks as militants.

The source said, “Imagine, they (insurgents) claimed that the gesture was aimed at assisting villagers to perform Ramadan fast and Sallah with ease and happiness, the same villagers they killed their friends and family members.”

Reacting to this, a former Kaduna Central lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, recalled that terrorists had last month shared cash gifts to some residents of villages they attacked and now they are sharing food items in the name of Ramadan palliatives.

Sani said the development is an indication that chronic economic issues are responsible for the growth of terrorism in the Northeast.

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