Bulama Bukarti, a security analyst and senior fellow at the Extremism Policy Unit of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, has raised fresh concerns over Boko Haram’s evolving tactics, revealing that the terrorist group is now active on social media platforms like TikTok.
Speaking during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Sunday, Bukarti explained that the insurgents are using digital tools to spread propaganda and conduct surveillance.
This comes just days after Senator Ali Ndume of Borno South lamented the loss of 100 soldiers and 280 civilians to Boko Haram attacks within a six-month span in Borno State.
Bukarti, who has studied Boko Haram extensively, warned that the group is now leveraging social media and advanced technology to further its agenda.
“Right now, when you go on TikTok, you will see Boko Haram members’ accounts.
“They host live programmes and live shows where they propagate Boko Haram’s ideology; They justify the group’s violence, which they do in the Hausa language. They field questions from the audience and answer comments that are written.”
“Even this week, there was a Boko Haram member who posted a 10-minute video on TikTok attacking me for speaking up against the escalating violence of the group. But it’s not just that. We know that Boko Haram now operates unmanned drones. They surveil military formations in the northeast with unmanned drones.”
“What we have seen over the past three months was over seven Boko Haram attacks on super camps, on Nigerian military super camps.
“In Sabon Gari and lots of other places, they overran the camps. They dispersed the military, killed some, captured others and stole weapons, food, medicine and other equipment from those areas and fled into the bush.”