A 15-year-old former Boko Haram bomb maker, Ali Goni, has confessed how he made over 500 underwear Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) for insurgents in the last five years.
Goni was 10 and in primary six when he was kidnapped in Bama.
The military authorities described the teenager as the most deadly Boko Haram member who had mastered various techniques to destroy lives.
Army intelligence described him as the most innovative bomb maker to emerge in recent years.
Goni, who is being rehabilitated at a military detention camp in Maiduguri, said he assembled IEDs from fragmented materials. He introduced padlocking IEDs strapped onto bombers which makes it hard to be demobilised or detected.
He said: “I was kidnapped with my mother on Bama’s Kawuri Street by Baba Kaka, a dreaded Boko Haram commander. They took us to Sambisa and kept us in a camp called “Kwalfata“.
“We underwent various trainings in the camp and during the course of our training, I was selected to be trained on bomb making and detection, as well as identifying and demobilising explosives.
“I refused initially, but they said they would kill my mother. Many of my colleagues died during training but I was the best among all.
“My job was to make bombs for suicide missions. I was working under Baba Musa, a 70-year-old. Musa also taught me the new technique of making underwear IED with padlock.
“At some point, I was the only bomb maker when all those I trained with were killed by the military. So they took me from camp to camp to make IEDs for suicide missions.
“I was in Kangarwa, Pulka, Banki and other camps. I managed to escape when the military bombed our camp in Baga. I ran to Cameroon where I surrendered to the Cameroonian forces. I was later handed over to the Nigeria military.”
Goni hoped to be a soldier in the future to help the military in identifying IEDs.