Still on Proposed Commission for Repentant Insurgents, By Eleojo Idachaba
POLITICS DIGEST – Although he is said to have withdrawn the bill, but the controversy it generated when it was introduced in the Senate was thick. Ibrahim Gaidam who represents Yobe East in the current Senate only succeeded in stirring the hornet’s nest with his intention to sponsor a motion that would establish an independent commission for de-radicalised/repentant Boko Haram insurgents.
It happened last week when the senators on resuming plenary were confronted with a bill seeking to establish an agency for repentant members of the Boko Haram terrorist group.
Blueprint Weekend gathered that the bill aimed to create a national agency that would see to the rehabilitation, de-radicalisation and integration of repentant insurgents into the country.
The sponsor of the bill is also the immediate past governor of Yobe state, one of the worst hit states by insurgents in the North-east. Major components of the bill include the provision of avenue for rehabilitation, de-radicalisation, education and reintegration of the defectors, repentant and detained members of the insurgent group in order to make them useful members of the society at large.
It also provides avenue for reconciliation and promotion of national security, provide an-open-door and encouragement for other members of the group who are still engaged in the insurgency to abandon the group especially in the face of the military pressure, give the government opportunity to derive insider-information about the group for greater understanding about the inner workings of the group, gain greater understanding of the insurgents to enable the government to address the immediate concerns of violence and study the needs of de-radicalisation efforts in order to improve the process of de-radicalisation and finally to help disintegrate the violent and poisonous ideology that the group spreads as the programme would enable some convicted or suspected terrorists to express remorse over their actions, repent and recant their violent ideology and re-enter mainstream politics, religion and society.
Accordingly, the agency is to create vocational rehabilitation for the members which would give detainees the opportunities to learn crafts like carpentry, clay shaping, pottery, use of art through drawings, among others. Good as Senator Gaidam’s proposition of the bill may appear to him, investigation reveals that he was operating as a lone ranger because of the stiff resistance he received right from the red chamber, no wonder, he has allegedly withdrawn the bill, may be to repackage it for better acceptability next time or perish the idea completely. The ‘nay’ voices he received in the chamber was enough to tell him that not only was that bill unnecessary, it was a waste of the senators’ time and also a duplication of responsibilities since there already existed a North East Development Commission with its headquarters in Maiduguri.
Opposing voices
During plenary that day, opposing voices to the bill were loud, for instance, Senator Ayo Akinyelure who represents Ondo Central in the Senate, said there is no justification for the bill. He went ahead to question the real nationality of the insurgents the bill is meant to cater for.
He said, “These are criminals to whom life means nothing. So, what type of rehabilitation are we going to give them? Do you even know if they are Nigerians? Most of them are not Nigerians. They are from Niger Republic and other neighbouring countries. They just believe that terrorising people and taking their resources is their major concerns. When you now say you want to establish an agency, then you are now harbouring terrorists in your country and by extension giving recognition that you are keeping them by opening an agency for them.
“Before you know it, they would resettle around Nigeria, attack and take over the country. That doesn’t make any sense. The best thing is for them to go back to their countries and if they want to repent, let them repent and surrender there. That’s all.”
For Shehu Sani, a former senator who represented Kaduna Central in the immediate past Senate, the situation in the North-east has been properly taken care of with the establishment of the North East Development Commission (NEDC). According to him, “That commission should be well-funded to tackle all the socio-economic matters that affect the North-east.” To that extent, he said establishing another agency for repentant Boko Haram members is a needless exercise and waste of resources.
“I have said it before that if we start any agency in the name Boko Haram, either that agency would become a breeding ground for more terrorists or would be a target of the terrorists.
“It would amount to diverting resources that are supposed to be used to tackle violence and killings and fund NEDC to set up another agency. That would be another opportunity to produce more suicide bombers and more killers,” he said.
For Ali Ndume, the chairman, Senate Committee on Army, the bill is unnecessary. The law maker who represents Borno South in the National Assembly outrightly rejected the bill, saying it would swell the ranks of the insurgents because they are sure of rehabilitation and reintegration into the society.”
He said further that,“I personally disagree with that. The war is not over and some criminals that have been killing people you say that you are doing Operation Safe Corridor for them. I am completely against that idea. They know my position on that, you can’t do that. It is when you win the war and some people surrender that you think about something like that.
“By establishing that type of commission, you are simply telling people to go and join Boko Haram and then repent to be fed fat. That’s a totally unacceptable idea and not a way of solving the problem.”
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Also a former Bauchi law maker in the Senate, Isa Misau, said he is against the bill, saying it is not the right time for Nigeria to start anything as such.
He asked, “So, after rehabilitation, who is going to monitor them? Do we have the manpower to monitor their activities after that because I don’t think even the sponsor of the bill has made serious research before bringing that bill to the Senate. There are some senators already who are against the bill.
“I personally will also not support it especially this time when we cannot even monitor a lot of things. We are lacking a lot of things when it comes to intelligence gathering. Even the ordinary and physical things, we cannot contain them. How do you know who has truly repented?”
Senator Misau argued that Boko Haram leaders can sponsor their members to pretend they have repented so that they can gather more intelligence.
When asked to know if this is not equivalent to the amnesty given to the Niger Delta militants, he said,
“You cannot compare this to the amnesty given to Niger Delta militants because they were known people. Everybody knows their leaders and the reasons for their agitation. But for Boko Haram, nobody knows the reason they are killing people or the reason they are doing what they are doing; so, you can see that there is a lot of difference.”
IPOB’s take
Also, an organisation, Ethnic Youth Leaders for Peace in Nigeria (EYLPN), condemned in strong terms any attempt to create a commission for repentant Boko Haram members in the country. The director general of the group, Comrade Franklyne Edede, said it is a plot to make some sections of the country irrelevant.
“You proscribed a peaceful group known as Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOP) while romancing with dreaded and blood sucking Boko Haram; as if that was not enough, you want to empower them through the establishment of a commission. That is unacceptable.”
He alleged further that the federal government appears to have some secret agenda to be executed through insurgency, lamenting that most traditional leaders and religious leaders, who are supposed to be bold to tell the truth in the face of all injustices, have compromised because of their stomach.
Release of insurgents
It all started in January 2020, when Borno state government announced that about 1,400 repentant Boko Haram suspects in custody were released by the military and rehabilitated into the society. The state commissioner for information, Babakura Jato, said this. He said, “There have been series of releases. They were released in three tranches since Operation Safe Corridor began. The first set was released during Governor Shettima’s time while two sets have been released under Professor Zulum.
“The total number of persons released so far is 1,400. Out of the 1,400, the majority of them are cleared suspects. These were people who were suspected of being members of Boko Haram and it was discovered that they were not. The rest are children of Boko Haram or actual Boko Haram members. I cannot give you a breakdown of the figure now for security reasons.”
Disgusts
Meanwhile, despite all the assurances and explanations by the authorities, some Nigerians are not happy about the decision to set the suspects free without prosecuting them for the lives that were lost as a result of their operations. A twitter handle user asked, “What about peoples husbands, brothers, uncles, fathers and more who died fighting these monsters? What about the raped girls and kidnapped people who died in these monsters hand? Is there no justice for them? It is Gods right to forgive terrorists; but it’s our right to send them to him.”
A social commentator, Mr. Austin Onuma, said creating a commission for repentant terrorists is akin to seeking amnesty for bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers and armed robbers instead of facing prosecution.
“It speaks of a society without the rule of law or are the existing laws on such criminalities extinct? Take a cue from the shenanigans that took place in Katsina state last year when the state government decided to appeal to the bandits terrorising the state to sheathe their sword. Has the method worked out? There are rooms for amnesty, but when a government decides to grant it reprieve as in the present example for every form of criminalities, the perpetrators know you are already operating from a weak position and the trend continues,” he said.
Writing on ‘Before We Grant Amnesty to Boko Haram,’ a writer, Fisayo Soyombo, said, “The current idea of amnesty for Boko Haram emanated from the tried and tested amnesty programme for Niger Delta militants began by the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and finalised by the Goodluck Jonathan regime, but these are two completely different warfare, particularly regarding the triggers. The Niger Delta militancy was triggered by agitation for improved economic well-being of oil-producing communities and their people. The needs were clear regardless of the criminality of the approach: Niger Delta militants simply wanted a better life, whether or not they were ready to work for it. A money-spinning amnesty was always going to quell their anger.
“It’s bewildering to see that in the present case, the government thinks captured Boko Haram members have any choice other than repentance. The hallmark of any amnesty is the voluntariness with which its beneficiaries accept it. Majority of Niger Delta repentant militants were youths in possession of arms and ammunition that they voluntarily laid down in moments when they were free men – not that they were subdued and left with no other survival option, but freedom-motivated repentance. This is why many of these supposedly de-radicalised insurgents would still find their ways back to the forest to wreak more havoc on soldiers because the majority of them only surrendered and repented after their capture.”
