- Mixed Reaction Trail Bill
The Senate on Thursday began debate on a bill to establish an agency that would see to the rehabilitation, de-radicalization and integration of repentant insurgents in the country.
The bill which was sponsored by Senator Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe East senatorial district, and was read for the first time on the floor of the Senate Thursday has attracted mixed reactions.
The bill which is already a subject-matter of fierce push back, is reportedly premised on grounds that it would be a further move to demilitarize Boko Haram militants who choose to cease fire and become repentants.
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It would be recalled that last month, the Nigerian military said no fewer than 608 repentant Boko Haram insurgents were undergoing a process called the De-radicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DRR) programme under its Operation Safe Corridor in Malam-Sidi zone of Gombe State.
The repentant Boko Haram militants were said to have been exposed to formal literacy classes, skills acquisition and Islamic Religious Knowledge (IRK) as well as drug and psycho-therapists training during their training proceses.
Recall that a group of Borno elders, led by ex-governor Kashim Shettima, last year, had frowned at the initiative, saying the military’s operation was not well thought out. The elders feared that releasing the purported repentant Boko Haram militants into civilian population could be counter-productive as hardened fighters could possibly return to the terror group to commit more atrocities.
“The ongoing de-radicalization and reintegration of repentant Boko Haram insurgents under the “operation safe corridor” of the defense headquarters is a course for concern for members of the Civilian JTF and some stakeholders in the State,” the group wrote in a letter last year.
“(We) suspect that “Boko Haram members do not repent” hence the de-radicalization programme may be breeding( ground )for spies and agents of recruitment for the Boko Haram,” they had said.
They had accordingly urged President Muhammadu Buhari to approve the suspension of the programme.
More Nigerians have also spoken out against the policy.
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