The Borno State government has said that the 160,000 repentant Boko Haram insurgents can’t return to k#llingsbecause they swore to an oath with the Quran.
The state’s Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Zuwaira Gambo, whose ministry oversees the affairs of the ex-combatants and rescued captives, on Wednesday, noted that of the 160,000 repentant insurgents, 70,000 had been resettled and reintegrated into their communities.
Gambo stressed that having sworn by the Quran the ex-t+rrorists would never return to the bush to rejoin Boko Haram. She spoke at the public presentation of survivors, victims and deradicalised women of Boko Haram by the UKAID-assisted Maiduguri-based non-governmental organisation, Allamin Foundation.
The commissioner assuaged growing public fears that the resurgence of t+rror in the North-East was being caused by the repentant t+rrorists reneging on their repentance and trooping back to the bush to pick up arms against the Nigerian state. She said, “It is completely untrue that the repentant Boko Haram fighters are reneging on their repentance and returning to the bush to continue fighting.
Out of the over 160,000 who repented, we have already reintegrated over 70,000 in their home communities, and I can assure you that no one will be missing should we decide to gather all of them for anyone to confirm. We operate a transparent process of their repentance.
The commissioner said she was sure the repentant insurgent would not return to the trenches, having taken an oath with the Quran. “We subject each of them to proper oath taking with the Holy Quran that he or she will never return to the bush to f#ght; and he or she swears with the Holy Quran in the presence of a committee comprising traditional rulers, religious leaders and government officials.
No repentant Boko Haram dare renege on the oath because he or she knows what it means to swear with the Holy Quran and renege; and he or she knows that he or she dare not return to the bush because he or she knows that dath awaits him on arrival; their commanders in the bush will k#ll him because they would not trust him.”
Gambo said about 75 per cent of the repentant insurgents were originally farmers, who were captured and forced into insurgency. “They were not real fighters,” she said.
