Community leaders in Borno State have agreed to forgive and accept repentant Boko Haram terrorists into their communities.
The agreement was reached at a stakeholders meeting on Sunday held to discuss the prevailing security situation in the state.
The Borno State Government, who organized the meeting, confirmed that at least 3,000 Boko Haram terrorists have laid down their arms and surrendered to the Nigerian military.
The State Governor, Babagana Zulum, who presided over the meeting, disclosed that apart from the 3,000 repentant insurgents, currently in the custody of the government, another 900 confirmed members of the sect have surrendered to the Cameroonian forces.
According to Zulum, the meeting was necessitated by the mixed reactions that recently trailed the mass surrender of the former Boko Haram fighters.
He explained that the government needed to involve all stakeholders in Borno in the decision-making process on how to deal with the repentant insurgents.
Present in the meeting were many government functionaries, religious and traditional rulers, security operatives and members of the civil society.
However, they gave conditions that must be met before the remorseful terrorists are accepted into various communities.
The 16-point communique was signed by the Borno State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Kaka-Shehu Lawan.
According to the communique, the stakeholders called on the federal and state government to “handle the issue of repentant Boko Haram insurgents with utmost care and within the instrumentality of the law.
The meeting emphasized the need for “proper profiling of the repentant Boko Haram insurgents to avoid hasty release of hardening elements to the larger society.”
They called on Borno citizens to “key into the educational opportunities created by the state government especially by enrolling their children and wards to schools as a countermeasure for indoctrination.”
The meeting also agreed on the need for the establishment of a world-class deradicalization/rehabilitation centre in Borno State being the epicentre of the insurgency.
The stakeholders, however, called on the Nigeria military “to sustain the ongoing offensive on the activities of ISWAP”.
