Terrorist Turf War Over Lake Chad Plunges Thousands Into Hunger
25th May 2026
Inside a mud-brick hut on the edge of a camp for people displaced by terrorism, an ex-Boko Haram fighter is explaining what drew him to the group.
“I joined because I had no choice,” said the former militant, Bahana Alhadji. Then aged 22 and struggling to make a living fishing on Lake Chad, he told The Telegraph that joining the group gave him status, camaraderie and a reliable source of food. “When I was there, we were given rations every week. They made me feel welcome.”
As a kind of perverse signing bonus, Alhadji was given three teenage ‘wives’. The group is notorious for systematically enslaving young women and girls and forcing them into marriages with its fighters.