The All Progressives Congress [APC] member representing Yobe East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Ibrahim Gaidam, said on Monday that many Boko Haram terrorists are willing to lay down their arms but are afraid of the consequences of their action.
The former governor of Yobe State, who proposed a bill for the education, deradicalisation and rehabilitation of the repentant insurgents, on the floor of the Senate last week, stated this in an interview with journalists in Abuja.
The senator explained that his bill was not meant to take care of insurgents captured by the security agencies because those ones would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
He also said contrary to claims by those who were opposing the proposed legislation, the victims of the Boko Haram insurgents are already being taken care of by the North East Development Commission.
Gaidam said some of his colleagues who are currently kicking against the bill had yet to know details of the proposed legislation, arguing that it was meant to completely tackle insurgency in the North East since the use of force seems not to be achieving the desired objectives.
He said,
“There is no doubt that many members of the insurgents’ group have defected and many more are willing to repent given a window of opportunity and this is confirmed by many organisations including nongovernmental organisations that have unalloyed access to the Boko Haram.
“The Boko Haram insurgency is becoming increasingly aggressive since its inception in 2009, marked by extreme brutality and explicit targeting of civilians, resulting in continued infliction of massive casualty on innocent citizens, particularly in northeastern Nigeria.
“It has become necessary for us to go back to the drawing board and adopt an alternative approach, in addition to the military option which has so far performed significantly well.
“There is the need for a more strategic and comprehensive approach to entice those members of the group who, after realising the futility of the course they are pursuing have eventually decided to voluntarily lay down their arms and chose the path of peace.
“Hence, the need for the establishment of the National Agency for the Rehabilitation, Deradicalization and reintegration of repentant insurgents to accommodate the defectors.
“The Agency when established, shall be charged with the responsibility of the planning, designing and organising specialised programmes aimed at deradicalizing, rehabilitating and reintegrating defectors and repentant insurgents.
“These specialised programmes which will serve as mechanisms for disengagement from terrorist’s ideology and invalidate the recourse to violence will focus on ideological, religious, educational, vocational, social, creative arts therapy, sports and recreation and psychological issues that cause violent extremism.
“It should be noted that the deradicalisation and rehabilitation process for former members of Boko Haram will vary on a case-to-case basis.
“Those who have become weary of the perpetual violence and have voluntarily laid down their arms and defected from the group will be accepted and rehabilitated using various tools of deradicalization, rehabilitation and reintegration.
“In contrast, those captured active in the battlefields will be required to, in addition to the psychological therapy, participate in the criminal justice process.”
Gaidam said the bill would provide an avenue for rehabilitating, deradicalising, and reintegrating the defectors, repentant and forcefully conscripted members of the Boko Haram insurgents to make them useful members of the society.
He said,
“It would provide an avenue for reconciliation and promote national security, and provide an-open-door and encouragement for other members of the group who are still engaged in the insurgency to abandon the group, especially in the face of the military pressure.
“It will allow the government to derive insider-information about the insurgency group for greater understanding of the group and its inner workings.”
The former governor also said his bill was also aimed at gaining a greater understanding of the insurgents which would enable the government to study the needs of deradicalisation effort, improve the process and address the immediate concerns of violence
He added that the establishment of the agency would help the Federal Government to combat future recruitments.
The senator said,
“If defectors told their stories and were made more public, their experiences would play a key role in countering terrorist propaganda, which in turn would lessen the appeal of joining the group.
“It will help undercut the costs of incarceration and ensure individuals who would otherwise have lives entrenched in criminality become productive members of society.
“It will also help to render extremist movements obsolete by undermining the foundations upon which these movements are built.
“The concept of deradicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration are global practice. Lots of countries, including Britain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Somalia, Pakistan, Syria, and Iraq have formulated various models of deradicalization and rehabilitation programmes to combat the menace of radicalisation with significant measure of success.
“In dealing with the insurgency, Nigerian government needs to introduce both preventive and corrective measures in addressing violent extremism.
“The challenge today is to ensure repentant terrorists are rehabilitated in the best possible way so that they become useful members of the society,” he added.
