Retired Brigadier General Kukasheka Usman has revealed that the approximately 700 repentant Boko Haram fighters who surrendered to the Nigerian military can no longer be reintegrated into the terrorist group, as the insurgents would view them with deep suspicion and likely kill them on sight.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Trust, Usman said, “Many people may not even be aware that all those people who have gone through the rehabilitation process are already persona non grata. Boko Haram terrorists will no longer accept the repentant fighters. They are natural suspects in the sense that they might be suspected of having ingrained devices on their bodies or being there to spy on them, and they would be killed instantly. So I think the most important thing is to continue to sensitise Nigerian society and other stakeholders to get their buy-in.”
He also addressed the legal foundation behind the military’s decision to accept the surrendering fighters in the first place, pointing out that international humanitarian law places a clear obligation on any government to render assistance to those who lay down their arms.
He noted that the fighters who surrendered voluntarily were not carrying weapons at the time, and were each thoroughly investigated, profiled, and assessed to determine the extent of their involvement in the northeast insurgency before any rehabilitation process began….See More
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