Anxiety as military plans ex-terrorists’ release to governors

There are concerns that the plan by the military to release another set of repentant terrorists into society could subvert the progress made so far in the war against insurgency.

No fewer than 613 rehabilitated terrorists undergoing de-radicalisation are scheduled to be handed over by the military authorities to their respective state governors.

This has, however, heightened fears that the repentant terrorists may have ulterior motives.

In July 2022, some repentant Boko Haram members, despite renouncing their membership of the terror group, were accused of having contact with their former colleagues.

The ex-terrorists were among the 800 persons who were recently reintegrated into the Bama community in Borno State and were resettled at the Government Girls Secondary School Bama.

The repentant terrorists, who were alleged to have sneaked out of Bama town, were said to have dealt in scrap metals with some Boko Haram terrorists in a market known as Daula located on the outskirts of Goniri village before the incident occurred.

Apart from this, the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, and the Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai, Major General Christopher Musa, had separately expressed doubt over the sincerity of the repentant terrorists in the past.

Speaking in an interview with one of our correspondents on Friday, a security expert, Timothy Avele, said the ex-terrorists could not be trusted.

He said, “On a personal level, I am not in support of the policy. You cannot release so-called repentant terrorists back into society when the war is still raging on. Who monitors them? How is the government or military sure of their loyalty to the country instead of their terrorist brothers still in the battlefield?

“As it stands now, neither the government nor the military, nor even the intelligence agencies can truly monitor these so-called repentant terrorists. We don’t have the technology to do so currently in Nigeria. We can only pray and hope that they will be good citizens, but there are no guarantees. “

But Brigadier General Bashir Adewinbi (retd.), on his part, dismissed the insinuations that those the military was planning to release to society would return to their old ways.

He added that the military would have learnt from past experience to ensure that such mistakes were not repeated, noting that the ex-terrorists would be closely monitored.

“The military must have learnt from the incident and ensured that they (repentant terrorists) might have been properly de-radicalised before releasing them into society. I think they will be watched closely and whoever is caught going back should be dealt with within the ambit of the law.  I doubt that these ones will go back to their vomit,” Adewinbi stated.

Another retired officer, Brigadier General Sani Usman, said the issue of repentant terrorists required a holistic approach, adding that the Federal Government must develop a unique modality for dealing with the issue of repentant terrorists. Punch