FG, Military Draw Flak Over Terrorists Deradicalisation Policy

LAGOS – The Federal Government and the military have receive knocks from public commentators re­garding their decision to derad­icalize over eight hundred Boko Haram insurgents as recently announced by Defence Head­quarters.

Speaking on Channels TV Morning Brief last Monday, the Chief of Defence Training and Operations, Major General Eme­ka Onumajuru, revealed that while 129,000 Boko Haram fight­ers and their families had so far surrendered, a select group had been chosen for rehabilitation.

General Onumajuru had said: “To get the numbers right, right now, (we have) about 129,000 surrendered Boko Haram mem­bers and their families.”

He explained that all surren­dered individuals were subject­ed to legal scrutiny, with those found guilty facing prosecution, while others deemed fit for reha­bilitation were placed in the de­radicalisation programme.

But Barrister Kenneth Udeze, the National Chairman of Action Alliance (AA), in an interview with Sunday Indepen­dent, vehemently opposed the idea of deradicalisation of ter­rorists, saying the action would undermine the nation’s security in the near future as the terror­ists are the nation’s enemies.

Udeze stated: “I am vehe­mently opposed to the idea of further admittance of the ene­mies of our peaceful living into any security institution in Ni­geria, because you cannot trust your life into the hands of a foe.

“Whereby the idea of deradi­calisation is to train them in any vocational skill, to be useful to themselves and the nation, I don’t think there is any problem with that.”

Also speaking, Hon. Charles C. Anike, the National President of Eastern Union (EU), a polit­ical pressure group of the Old Eastern Region, “The alleged de­radicalisation of over 800 Boko Haram terrorists is a clear indi­cation that we are not yet ready to win or end the terrorists activ­ities across the country.

“Whoever or group(s) that ever conceived the idea is an ene­my of the people. The hypocrisy of fighting terrorism in Nigeria is well known shameless shame, the outside world is aware of the connivance of political actors and their other criminals col­leagues.

“So, if the criminal elements are now radically rehabilitated, what happens to the families they left with everlasting pains?

“It is really madness to ever imagine this nonsense. So, why waste lives and enormous re­sources fighting them?

“If they are foolish, it is not all Nigerians that are as foolish, please. Hundreds of thousands of Nigerian soldiers, police and civilians have been wasted by those criminals and today, some people are talking of reorienta­tion.

“How can you possibly reori­entate hardened criminals, who have enjoyed enormous wealth gotten from terrorism?

“The truth is that most of those we call leaders also need to be rehabilitated. Most of them are more criminal and terror minded than their boys in fields of terrorism.

“Unfortunately, we now have governments that do not feel shame in every of their wrong steps. May God expose and dis­grace them.”

Julius Adegunna, a media executive and public affairs an­alyst, said: “Well, I will say, per­haps, the Defence headquarters know better.

“But, the experience from the past casts doubts on the possibil­ity of trusting many of the Boko Haram terrorists, rehabilitated or deradicalised.

“It has been discovered on good authority that many of the so-called rehabilitated terrorists turn around to be agents of the unrepentant ones leaking the secrets of the men and officers of the Nigerian Military to the bandits.

“I don’t know how far the de­radicalisation can actually wash the bandits clean of their ugly pasts and devilish intentions.

“I wish the DHQ the best of luck as I advise that they should not close their two eyes, thinking the bandits have truly repented.”

Dr Victor Mathew, a cleric and security expert, described the deradicalisation programme of the government as a non-ki­netic approach to the Boko Ha­ram menace.

Dr Mathew, the Executive Director, Kingdom Advocacy Network (KAN), said: “The Boko Haram is rooted in a reli­gious doctrine and could also be tackled by presenting a superior and better version of religion, as against religious extremism and fundamentalism.

“I also feel that since Boko Haram is a terrorist organisa­tion, their commanders and those in the upper echelon of their structure, when caught, should be made to face the mu­sic, according to the laws of the land.

“Only the foot soldiers, when caught, should be made to un­dergo deradicalisation.

“An unrepentant terrorist, when caught and just deradical­ised, will get more vicious and lethal when he or she is allowed to integrate into the society be­cause it is a thing of the mind and a belief system.

“The Federal Government should be more frontal and brutal in crushing these terror­ists, if not, they will continue to inflict pain and misery on the nation.

“Deradicalidation should not be an excuse by our military not to end the unending Boko Ha­ram threat, which is causing collateral damage to the nation as a whole and not only to the North East.”

Dr Rexkennedy Saltlove, a rights activist and cleric, said that whatever could be done to reduce or eradicate Boko Haram terrorism in the country is high­ly welcome.

Dr Saltlove, President/Exec­utive Director, Citizens Rights and Empowerment Advocacy Initiative (CREMA Initiative), stated: “This will ameliorate the regular burden of fear, and its psychological and emotion­al trauma of being kidnapped, raped, attacked, abducted or killed with its impact on the socio-economic development of the society.

“However, how successful has past deradicalisation been? What are the key indicators that the government can reference in as­suring the citizens that this soft landing adopted to rein in these enemies of a civil society works?

“The government has not addressed the issues like unem­ployment, education opportu­nities and the future it can give, etc, that made these young men to be willing tools recruited for criminal acts of terrorism.

“As long as governments do not address these fundamentals issues of unemployment and ed­ucation, the guarantee that these people will be easily integrated into civil society and they adapt with ease and their stay durable, is an illusion, except that the gov­ernment gives them meaningful employment that will help sus­tain their livelihood.

“This is my honest sub­mission. I strongly believe the only way the government can curb easy recruitment of law abiding citizens into criminal enterprises is to build a viable socio-economic structure that employs the youth, strengthens the economy, develops the soci­ety, and indicates that staying in the bush is not appealing.”