Stakeholders in Borno State have suggested the establishment of world class rehabilitation centre with facilities in order to deradicalised the genuinely repented members of Boko Haram fighters.
This was part of the suggestion at a town hall meeting organised by Borno State governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum on Sunday in Maiduguri to chat a way forward for insurgents who have already surrendered to the Nigerian troops.
Stakeholders include security agents, members of the State and National Assembly, traditional, religious bodies and NGOs, who unanimously agreed to 16-point resolutions, also demanded that firearms be retrieved from the repentant fighters.
The meeting which was monitored by CAPITAL POST maintained that the repentant fighters should be thoroughly profiled, while they should not be released into a larger society in a haste.
They also urged the Nigerian troops and the Multinational Joint Task force to hit ISWAP hard and put them under pressure to avoid nothing that would entice the repentant ones back to the forest.
The meeting came after the State governor had met with President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief of Defence Staff at the Aso Rock Presidential villa, Abuja last week, where Buhari was formally briefed of Boko Haram fighters who are repenting in their thousands.
At the opening of the meeting, Governor Zulum called on all participants to be very open and analytical in their submissions looking at potential advantages, problems and implications of having repentant insurgents back.
Zulum said “while it was certainly difficult accepting the killers of our loved ones, it is equally important to find ways of ending the 12 years insurgency,” describing the Boko Haram surrender as dealing with “two extreme conditions.
“Because one hand accepting insurgents has its implications, while rejecting them could swell the ranks of rival ISWAP faction that is still armed and waging war,” he said.
Zulum also pointed to the case of Afghanistan were 20 years of military fight ended with Taliban now in control of government.
