The President Muhammadu Buhari government has continued its rehabilitation program for repentant Boko Haram terrorists by gifting clothes and food items to over 1000 Boko Haram and Islamic State West African Province fighters whom the military claimed surrendered to troops in Borno State during a clearance operation.
According to SR, a total of 1,081 repentant fighters including family members, benefited, out of which 335 were males while 746 were women and children.
The report further states that among those who surrendered, were the logistics suppliers for the Boko Haram and ISWAP, Musa Adamu, aka Mala Musa Abuja, and his second-in-command, Usman Adamu, who turned themselves in to the troops of Operation Hadin Kai of the Nigerian Army.
The repentant terrorists reportedly surrendered in the Bama Local Government Area of Borno State alongside their families and followers, after which they were received by the Acting General Officer Commanding, 7 Division, and Commander Sector 1 OPHK, Abdulwahab Eyitayo, at Headquarters 21 Special Armoured Brigade, Bama.
The General reportedly advised the repentant fighters to convince their former colleagues to stop participating in terrorism, embrace peace and rehabilitation.
He disclosed that the former insurgents would undergo a rehabilitation process at a government facility before reintegration.
While the Buhari government believes its approach of rehabilitating repentant Boko Haram terrorists, is similar to late Umaru Yar'adua's handling of Niger Delta militancy, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, however, says it makes no sense to spend billions on rehabilitating kiIIers while the victims are left with nothing but anguish.
Kukah who spoke in a sermon titled “Nigeria: Before our glory departs,” said the Buhari administration has shown that crime pays, yet wants victims of crimes to be patriotic. He warned that unless victims of crimes are prioritized by government, Nigeria will never heal.
He said, “It is a Mystery, that the (Buhari) government is investing billions of naira in rehabilitating so-called Boko Haram repentant members and their other partners in crime in the belief that they want to turn a new leaf.
"These criminals have waged war against their country, m u rdered thousands of citizens, destroyed infrastructure and rendered entire families permanently displaced and dislocated. Why should rehabilitating the perpetrator be more important than bringing succour to the victims?
“When kidnapped or killed, victims and their families are left to their wits. They cry alone, bury their loved ones alone. And our government expects us to be patriotic? The victims of violence need empathy, which the dictionary defines as the ability to understand and share the feelings of the other.
"A critical deficit of empathy on the side of the government makes healing almost impossible for the victims. We have not heard anything about a rehabilitation programme for the thousands of schoolchildren who have been victims of abduction."