This assurance comes amidst growing public fears that the sporadic resurgence of terror in the North-East is caused by the repentant terrorists reneging on their repentance and trooping back to the bush to pick up arms against the Nigerian state.
“It is completely untrue that the repentant Boko Haram fighters are reneging on their repentance and returning to the bush to continue fighting,” Zuwaira Gambo, Borno State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, whose ministry oversees the affairs of the ex-combatants and rescued captives, said in Maiduguri, Wednesday.
She was speaking at the public presentation of survivors, victims and de-radicalized women of Boko Haram by the UKAID-assisted Maiduguri-based NGO, Allamin Foundation.
“Out of the over 160,000 who repented, we have already reintegrated over 70,000 in their home communities, and I can assure you that no one will be missing should we decide to gather all of them for anyone to confirm,” she said.
“We operate a transparent process of their repentance,” the commissioner assured, explaining, “We subject each of them to proper oath-taking with the Holy Quran that he or she will never return to the bush to fight; and he or she swears with the Holy Quran in the presence of a committee comprising traditional rulers, religious leaders, and government officials.”
Zuwaira assured further: “No repentant Boko Haram dare renege on the oath because he or she knows what it means to swear with the Holy Quran and renege; and he or she knows that he or she dare not return to the bush because he or she knows that death awaits him on arrival, their commanders in the bush will kill him because they would not trust him.”
The commissioner revealed that about 75 per cent of the repentant insurgents were originally farmers who were not the real fighters, but captives forced to farm for the real fighting terrorists.
She assured that the state government would study the entire charters of demand and do everything it could about them.
The Charter comprised the demands of the survivors and victims from the government, security agencies, NGOs, the media, traditional and religious leaders, community members and other stakeholders for proper rehabilitation to a prosperous life.
The Governor of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Zulum, said that the number of repentant Boko Haram insurgents in the state had risen to 160,000. https://punchng.com/repentant-bharam-insurgents-now-160000-zulum/
The governor said though there were still Boko Haram insurgents around, “they are not strong.”
“Generally, the security situation in Borno State has tremendously improved,” he declared.
