How Pastor I was Mandate to kill led me to Christ – Repented Boko Haram Member

Before Paul Yusuf met with a superior power, was ‘arrested’ and gave his life to Christ, he was one of the most vicious and brutal executioners the Boko Haram insurgents ever had.

While in the sect, his name was Yusuf Muhammed, a name he adopted after the late founder of the sect.

Just like Saul in the Bible who later became Paul after his conversion, Yusuf was against Christians and he would not hesitate to kill any of them that he came across and was always very happy whenever he was assigned to strike churches and communities made up of Christians.

Not that he did not kill people of other religions but killing Christians always brought joy to him and he loved seeing them suffer.

According to Paul Yusuf, his hatred for Christians manifested when an Islamic scholar visited his Quranic school in his hometown, Azare, in Bauchi State, and told the students about Boko Haram and their mandate to Islamize every part of Nigeria.

The cleric had told the impressionable Yusuf and his mates that Christians and anyone who did not believe in Islam must be killed as it was ordained by Allah and that anyone who killed in the name of Allah had great rewards in Aljannah.

Yusuf did not hesitate in joining the Boko Haram sect at the age of 15 and by the time he was 22, he was a top member and one of the ferocious killers the sect could boast of.

But he met his match when he was assigned to kill a man of God, Pastor James Gagara, of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN), in a community in Bama local government area of Borno State.

While giving his testimony in a church shortly after his baptism, Yusuf narrated how his quest to kill Pastor Gagara led him to Christ and how he willingly surrendered to Nigerian soldiers.

Hear him:

“My name is Paul Yusuf but when I was a member of Boko Haram, I was known as Yusuf Muhammed. They gave me the name after the late founder of the sect.

I was 15-years-old when I joined Boko Haram. It was after a top member of the group who was an Alfa, came to our Quranic school in Azare to preach to us and tell us about the sect that I joined them.

The Alfa had told us that the main aim of the sect was to turn Nigeria into an Islamic country by force and that anyone who stood in our way and would not agree to accept Islam must be killed.

He also told us that Christians and anyone who was not a Muslim was a Kaffir and as such, should be killed if they refused to accept Islam. He added that anyone who killed one Kaffir was going to be rewarded by Allah.

I was so impressed by the teaching that I immediately agreed to join the sect so as to be able to wipe out Christians.

I left Bauchi with the Alfa and was taken to their camp in Sambisa Forest where I and other new recruits were given our basic training.

After the initial training, we were taken to Niger Republic and Chad where we had further training, after which we came back to Nigeria.

My first assignment was to bomb a church in Damaturu and I did it to perfection. More than 20 worshipers died in that attack. From then on, I was often mandated with bombing churches or Christian communities and I was always happy whenever I was given those assignments.

I was one of the top 10 executioners in the sect and apart from bombing churches, I also executed those we captured whenever they refused to accept Islam.

However, Pastor James Gagara became a thorn in our flesh as all attempts to kill him had proven abortive. He kept on preaching against Boko Haram and this made us very angry, coupled with the fact that all our efforts to eliminate him had failed.

We had tried to kill him on three different occasions but he always managed to escape and that was when I was specially assigned to take him out by all means.

The first time I sneaked into his church with the soul aim of shooting him while he was preaching, he was nowhere to be found. Out of frustration and anger, I opened fire on the congregation and several people died in the process.

A week later, I and my team sneaked into his house one night and again, he was not around. We kidnapped two members of his household and went back to our camp.

Our leaders were becoming frustrated and it was just a matter of time before they would kill me because the punishment for failure is death but I guess what saved me was because I had never failed in any given assignment.

I was given a last chance with the mandate that I either kill Pastor Gagara or I would be killed. With that in mind, I went on my final mission to kill him.

I had successfully sneaked into his house with two of my colleagues and met Pastor Gagara praying. I brought out my gun in readiness to shoot him from behind but the gun would not fire.

The click of the gun must have alerted him because he just looked up calmly and asked me who sent me to kill him. I was angry with the question and the calm manner in which he asked the question and tried to shoot him again but the gun would fire.

My colleagues also tried to shoot but the same thing happened. We became weak and decided to run away but my legs would not move.

My other colleagues managed to run out of the house but I could not. I did not know what happened but I suddenly found myself on the floor, losing all senses.

When I regained consciousness some minutes later, I saw Pastor Gagara and two other men praying for me. I was further shocked that instead of killing their enemy, they were rather praying for me and asking God to forgive me.

When they were done, the Pastor asked me if I was willing to give my life to Christ. I did not understand what he was were talking about. How did he expect me, a Boko Haran member who had gone to kill him, to give my life to Christ? Who was this Christ in the first place?

After praying for me, Pastor Gagara invited some soldiers who took me away and handed me over to members of the Operation Safe Corridor who are in charge of the rehabilitation of repentant Boko Haram members.

Throughout my stay in the rehabilitation centre, Pastor Gagara kept coming to visit me and to preach to me. He gave me a Bible and some Christian books and urged me to read them.

After some days of reading the Bible and the books he gave me, I got to know that I was indeed living in a fool’s paradise where I believed that only Muslims would make heaven and that Christians were Kaffirs and should be killed.

The day I gave my life to Christ, I had a terrible dream of what would become of me if I refused to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. The next time Pastor Gagara came to talk to me, I gladly told him of my decision and he was so happy and prayed with me.

After my rehabilitation, the soldiers allowed me to go with Pastor Gagara and after some days, I was baptized and he gave me the name Paul, saying that I was just a replica of the Biblical Saul.

I want to use this opportunity to thank Pastor Gagara for leading me to Christ despite the fact all I wanted to do was to kill him. I have now found peace and I want to apologize to all the families of the people I killed and to further seek forgiveness from God.

I know the Boko Haram sect will not rest and will do everything to track me down and kill me but I have now taken solace in the fact that if I die today, I will die in Christ and will resurrect with him on the final day.”