Military sources said that about 90,000 of the fighters had repented and surrendered across the state in the last 17 months.
The Special Adviser to the Borno State Government on Security Affairs, Brig. Gen. Ishaq Abdullahi, told newsmen in Maiduguri that the diehard Boko Haram commanders resorted to killing any terrorist attempting to flee the Sambisa forest to surrender in order to frustrate the ongoing peace dialogue between government and the terror group.
“Just last week, they killed three commanders and their families who were about to escape.
“The advantage we have in this peace dialogue is the death of the late Abubakar Shekau and the political will as well as the willingness of the people to forgive,” he said.
Abdullahi announced that over 95 per cent of the Boko Haram diehard commanders had been eliminated over the years.
“This makes it easy for us to speak with them and persuade them to drop their weapons and embrace peace,” he said.
He said the raging feud between the Islamic State of West African Province and Boko Haram had played a key role in whatever success was achieved in the war against terror across Borno.
“So, any surrendered Boko Haram you see in the camp now risked his life to come out of the Sambisa forest.
“It is so bad that the commanders are killing the children, women, and the disabled to instil fear in them to deter them from surrendering.”
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