On Wednesday, Zuwaira Gambo, Borno State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, said it was impossible for repentant terrorists in the state to go back to crime.

Gambo, in a bid to allay fears among residents of the state over the government’s decision to release 160,000 deradicalised terror suspects, said the terrorists had sworn to the Quran and would never go back to their old ways.

She said this at the public presentation of survivors, victims and deradicalised women of Boko Haram by Allamin Foundation, a UKAID-assisted Maiduguri-based non-governmental organisation.

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.”

Meanwhile, in March 2021, Babagana Zulum, the state governor, said the military’s Operation Safe Corridor deradicalisation programme was not working as participants of the programme were going back to communities to gather intelligence and go back to terrorism.

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“Another aspect of the war against the insurgency that needs to be urgently reviewed or modified is the issue of deradicalisation of Boko Haram terrorists who have been captured or have willingly surrendered themselves to the authorities,” he said. 

“It has been confirmed that the concept of deradicalisation or Safe Corridor is not working as expected. Quite often, those who have passed through the Safe Corridor initiative or have been deradicalised usually go back and rejoin the terror group after carefully studying the various security arrangements in their host communities during the reintegration process.”

Zulum said this in Bauchi during the North-East Governors’ Forum meeting. There, he called for more prosecutions for terrorists and for the deradicalisation programme to be extended to only people who were forced to become terrorists.

IT HAPPENED BEFORE

In 2020, Auwalun Daudawa led a group of terrorists to abduct 300 schoolboys in Kankara, Zamfara State.

Daudawa was later caught and pardoned by the state government in April 2021, a month after Zulum’s condemnation of the deradicalisation programme. However, barely nine days after his release, the terrorist was rustling cattle.

Daudawa was killed after returning to the forest to take up arms, according to Ibrahim Zauma, new media aide to Bello Matawalle, the state governor at the time.

Zauma said via X (formerly Twitter) that the bandit leader was killed while “trying to rustle”.

He said: “Barely nine days after Auwalun Daudawa returned to the jungle after swearing oath on the Glorious Quran never to go back to banditry, he met his waterloo! He was killed while trying to rustle.”

Gambo said on Wednesday that the deradicalised terrorists had sworn by the Quran and would not return to crime, but history shows that should be taken with a pinch of salt.