Ndume: ‘Rehabilitated’ Boko Haram fighters have returned to killings

Senator Ali Ndume, (APC, Borno South) has advised the federal government to stop wasting resources in rehabilitating ex-Boko Haram insurgents, saying many of them have returned to killings.

He stated this during a programme on the BBC Hausa, on Wednesday, stressing that the rehabilitation programme is unacceptable to his people.

He said: “One of them killed his biological father, stole his wealth and returned to the bush.

“Many of them have gone back to their old ways.

“These people are like Khawarij [perverted persons].

“Many among those rehabilitated have gone back to their old ways.

“They will never repent.

“Government should know what to do with them, but not re-introducing someone to you, who has killed your parent or your relations and, it’s not to apologize to you but to the government, thinking that the government had failed and he was being cuddled to reintegrate.

“This programme is unacceptable to our people.

“The right thing is for the government to stop it.

”If the government is sincere about this thing [programme], those in the IDP camps should be trained in various trades and vocation, to help them start a new life,” he added.

As of July 2020, the federal government had de-radicalised about 882 ex-Boko Haram insurgents through a programme introduced by the military under Operation Safe Corridor in 2016 with the sole aim to reintegrate repentant Boko Haram members into the society.