25-year-old Ghanaian graduate Nazir Nortei Alema is feared to have joined the terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), according to the Daily Guide.
25-year-old Ghanaian graduate Nazir Nortei Alema is feared to have joined the terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), according to the Daily Guide.
Nazir, a graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) with a degree in Geography and Rural Development, is feared to be one of 10 suspected Muslim youths from Ghana who have joined the terrorist group.
According to family sources, on August 2nd, soon after completing the mandatory National Service in Ghana, which he undertook at the Ghana Statistical Service, Mr. Alema sent a WhatsApp message to his family to the effect that he was traveling to another part of Ghana on a job-related assignment.
Nazir’s father Kabiru Alema said he later sent him another message to negate the earlier one.
“He said that he had lied to us when he said he was on his way to Prestea and Takoradi but that the truth is that he was on his way to join ISIS,” he said.
Excerpts from Nazir’s WhatsApp message read as follows: “Pray for me, for I will never forget you in my prayer and it’s my hope and prayer that we meet again if not in this world then in Jannah (paradise). I love you all. May Allah grant us understanding and guide us all to the straight path. Asalaamu alaikum.”
“I told you a lie to please my Allah. The deception was to go do some research work in far away Prestea while the main idea was to move far away from you all to the Islamic State (IS). I know it might sound kind of crazy for you but your son really had to take this bold step to get out of the corrupt system of Ghana which has democracy first on its list.”
The family says it is convinced that Nazir has joined the ranks of ISIS because “a couple of his friends have also gone missing. We went to their individual houses and discovered that there is no information about their whereabouts.”
Mr. Alema mentioned the name of another KNUST graduate, a certain Abubakar Mohammed aka Brother, as an example of the friends suspected to have taken off with him.
Mr. Alema said, “The youth who have fallen prey to the ISIS craze belong to the same whatsapp group on which they share extreme ideas about Islam.”
The “Sadaqa Train,” which is the name of the whatsapp group, has been deactivated after the father of one of the members questioned to the administrator about their motives.
Mr. Alema also added that some disturbing videos have been spotted on his son’s laptop, a clear indicator that Nazir has been sufficiently brainwashed online.
He also disclosed that a certain Badharn Diallo, a Guinean who attended the University of Ghana and joined ISIS five months ago, is responsible for the recruitment of these young Ghanaian Muslims.
Concerns have been expressed in several quarters about a covert drive to recruit vulnerable Muslim youth for the terrorist organization.