Borno Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, on Tuesday revealed that over 100,000 people were killed in the last 12 years of conflict in the state by Boko Haram insurgents.
Zulum dropped the bombshell when he briefed the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) at the state house in Abuja on the activities of terrorists in the Northeast and particularly in Borno State.
The governor further disclosed that 10 per cent of the population of Borno State has remained unaccounted for as several people from different communities are still nowhere to be found.
A dejected Zulum stated that his government is working towards resettling the communities returning after they had fled their homes at the peak of the crisis.
He also made case for repented insurgents, saying while some Nigerians said that the surrendered Boko Haram fighters should be rejected, he believe there is no reason for any community to reject them.
“Those fighters who surrendered should be accepted and treated well and should not be rejected in their communities. That is the only way to show them the difference by loving them because they have repented from their mistakes,” the governor said.
According to him, a total of 2,600 former fighters of the insurgents have surrendered to the Nigerian military and are currently in custody of the military.
He said ” Not all of them are criminals. Some of them are also victims, as such the need for communities to understand and welcome the fact that they have realised their shortcomings and are now turning in to be good citizens.”
He explained that many of those who are surrendering to troops are people who were forcefully conscripted and that they had to stay with the terrorists to stay alive.
” Some of them were small children when they were taken to join the terrorists, ” he added.
Zulum told journalists that, he was attacked over five times by the terrorists while moving from one end of Borno State to another end to ensure that he builds confidence on the people, a sacrifice which is also yielding result with terrorists giving up and coming out to submit themselves.
He said his administration will do everything possible to support the surrendered terrorists, adding that government is not contemplating inducing the terrorists in order to have them surrendered but will work to ensure that those who surrender after profiling by the military return to their communities.
