In Defense Of FG’s Amnesty Program For Repentant Boko Haram Fighters

As the decade long battle against the Boko Haram terrorist group reaches its watershed, there is need to focus on the humanitarian aspect which indeed could determine how the situation goes. There is no doubt the group has been largely degraded by the Nigerian military. The only oxygen the group survives on is occasional attacks on soft targets and the military in order to show their relevance. It is a matter of time, the group would fizzle out like the much dreaded Al-Qaida and ISIL.

However, Nigerians are disturbed about the way the federal government is handling the non-military aspect of the war. Of course, the carrot and stick approach meant that while the military is doing the clearance operations on remnants of the terrorists, repentant fighters of the group are being de-radicalised, rehabilitated and re-integrated. For this, Nigerians are not happy about the fact that terrorists are being catered for while victims of these terrorists: civilians, families of dead soldiers as well as injured soldiers are being neglected.

According to an article by reliefweb titled: Accepting Ex-Boko Haram fighters, “the Federal government of Nigeria, through the Defense Headquarters inaugurated the Operation Safe Corridor (OSC) in 2016. The OSC programme is a counterinsurgency approach aimed at rehabilitating low-risk repentant Boko Haram fighters and reintegrate them back into society. The rehabilitation programme involves vocational training, access to deradicalisation and civic programmes. So far, the Nigerian Army says it has rehabilitated 893 ex-Boko Haram members since 2019. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Identity Management Commission said it has registered about 900 repentant Boko Haram members in the country. These programmes are to help the repentant fighters become productive”.
But Nigerians are not comfortable with the program and did interprete the federal government gesture as rewarding the offender and punishing the victim. But it may be that such mindset by most Nigerians is borne out of ignorance of the dynamics of the entire war against terrorism for which the government owes the responsibility to educate its citizens well enough.

Kudos must however be given to Pres. Muhammadu Buhari for establishing the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. It would go a long way in facilitating the post war efforts and bearing the burden of post war reconstruction.

Now, in understanding the dynamics of the Boko Haram war and why there is need for amnesty to repentant militants, there is need to appreciate the fact that Boko Haram is made up of sponsors, sympathizers and foot-soldiers. Due to the global onslaught on ISIL and Al-Qaida and the heavy crackdown on Boko Haram by the combined efforts of Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, the group has lost its sponsors and a large number of its foot-soldiers (loyalists). They have also lost sympathizers in the war zone due to the tactics they employed which does not appeal to the people.

For instance, It was alleged that the group broke in two factions because the much dreaded former leader, Shekau, was too brutal on innocent communities thereby jeopardizing the goal of the group. The break-away faction (ISWAP), led by Al-Barnawi, on the other hand, came up and succeeded in restoring confidence of the group by deploying a more humane posture especially around the Lake Chad region and northern Borno. It is no wonder that the group is strong in that axis because it was able to attract the confidence of the local populace. This gives credence to the fact that, no task or goal pursued by an organization, whether noble or ignoble, can succeed without the cooperation of the people.

Meanwhile, It would interest Nigerian skeptics that majority of the Boko Haram fighters today were forcefully conscripted into the group. This is evidenced by a recent VOA documentary which exposed the secret operation of the group. The secret videos showed how the group used the weapon of fear to recruit unwilling locals in the villages. If these villagers have been forcefully recruited and became terrorists by no fault of theirs, then it is not out of place to pardon them and bring them back to the society as much as is possible within the ambits of the law. The only exception would be the commanders and core loyalists of the group which the military, in collaboration with various local communities have been able to identify and put on the wanted list. These ones would surely be prosecuted if found or eliminated if they resist arrest. It would be against social justice to prosecute these repentant militants seeing that they were only victims of circumstances.

Today, the war has been reduced to a war of propaganda and a humanitarian crisis. According to Ahmed Salkida, an expert in Boko Haram issues, the Lake Chad region is a battleground for the more entrenched ISWAP elements and the military due to the economic resources there. ISWAP, the break-away faction of Boko Haram has established a stronghold by capitalising on the vast ungoverned territories that have long been neglected by the state. Salkida revealed that ISWAP collected taxes and was able to provide social amenities to the populace as a way of attracting their loyalties and recruiting fighters among the locals. According to Salkida’s Humangle, “people pay taxes to ISWAP on fish, livestock and vegetables” to guarantee their protection. “Most of the revenue from fish is shared between the military that confiscates the goods and the terrorists that charge levies for these items,” he added.

The ISWAP exploits is in contrast to the rag- tag Shekau army in central Borno that has been reduced to mere allies of common kidnap gangs in the North-West, seeking for survival (recall the Kankara episode).

Therefore, the final battle would be between the State-backed military and ISWAP in trying to win the people to their side. Militarily, the war had been won and lost. But there is still need to change the mindset of the people, especially those who have been forcefully recruited by the terrorists. That is only possible through the government amnesty program and a determined developmental drive at the local level. Fortunately, a focussed governor in the person of Prof. Babagana Zulum is delivering that successfully in collaboration with the Federal Government Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, while the military is busy in its clearance operations of the remaining terrorists. I believe that victory is certain.