Trust TV, the television arm of Media Trust Limited, will today air a documentary on the repentance and reintegration of Boko Haram fighters in Borno and Yobe states.
In the documentary, which will be aired today (Saturday) on Channel 164 of StarTimes, while some of the rehabilitated insurgents said they had renounced any link to the terrorist group, some residents still expressed concern over the genuineness of their repentance.
Among the local government areas in Borno State visited by the team were Konduga, Bama and Maiduguri Metropolitan, while traditional rulers, victims, security experts and victims were interviewed in some communities in Yobe State.
While the Borno State Government has not hidden its determination to welcome the de-radicalised insurgents, a rice farmer in Zabarmari said indigenes of the community were still struggling to put their lives in order.
Although he welcomed the reintegration of the rehabilitated insurgents, he said some residents were still traumatised, saying, “Whoever threatens and destroys your property and livelihood, even if he repents, you will still be scared of him. Anytime you see him or someone like him, you are frightened.”
But a Bama resident, Ibrahim Gambo, said residents could live with them, adding that peace is the ultimate goal.
Although the repented Boko Haram members are said to go about their activities without any interference from the locals, some residents expressed concern over government’s efforts to reintegrate them.
The head of the Department of Criminology and Security Studies, Muhammad Goni College of Legal Studies (MOGOLIS), Maiduguri, Shettima Mamman, picked holes in the duration of the de-radicalisation of the repented insurgents.
He said, “Seven months can never be enough; they have to be in that camp for at least six years. Bringing them back to the same society is a very big trouble. I will say they have to make a sort of change in the environment, just as they used to do to lunatics. This is a society where you have committed a crime; you went away and came back after some time; definitely, people will not agree. So if they have to be rehabilitated, they have to be taken somewhere else.”
This position was also shared by the Zannah Leftima of Borno Emirate Council, Isah Umar Tella. He said that while the de-radicalised insurgents were welcomed into the community, those that are notorious for several atrocities should be sent on exile to other areas until victims are no longer traumatised by their losses.
Some of the de-radicalised terrorists shared their experiences of life under strict rules in the forest and how they were given wives two weeks after joining the Boko Haram group.
Since their de-radicalisation, they remained in a camp and had to augment government provisions by selling woods from the bush to locals.
But not everyone is taking their reintegration into the community lightly as they question the conditions that led to their surrendering and the authenticity of their claims.
The secretary, Borno Hunters Association, Bunu Bukar, said hunters in the state had queried the genuineness of the repentance of the de-radicalized Boko Haram members.
“If it is sincere, we know the number of weapons in their possession; the ones they brought is not it. Where are the weapons?” Bukar asked, adding that the repented insurgents were forced to surrender because of the sustained military onslaught and attacks from the Islamic State for West African Province (ISWAP).
On his part, the state project coordinator of the National Safety Net, Borno State, acknowledged the challenges with the reintegration programme, but said the state government had adopted a local means of accepting the insurgents and reintegrating them.
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