By Olaleye Aluko The Multi-National Joint Task Force – the regional military arm of Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon fighting the B...
By Olaleye Aluko
The Multi-National Joint Task Force – the regional military
arm of Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon fighting the Boko Haram insurgents –
has said more repentant terrorists are expected to “surrender in the coming
weeks.”
The MNJTF Chief of Public Information, Col Timothy Antigha,
stated this in an exclusive chat, noting that the escape of the repentant
terrorists could attract instant execution from the insurgents’ commanders.
Our correspondent gathered from military records that no
fewer than 931 former Boko Haram fighters had been pardoned and taken through
the Nigerian military’s Operation Safe Corridor between October 2019 and July
2020.
Antigha noted that in the latest release recorded by the
MNJTF in Mora, Cameroon, which was 47 repentant terrorists, those members who
are Nigerians would be sent to Operation Safe Corridor in Gombe.
The MNJTF spokesman said, “Forty-seven successfully evaded
obstacles and escaped from their camps to surrender. There is a regime of
falsehood and intimidation in the Boko Haram and Islamic State West African
Province enclaves. Firstly, terrorists are made to believe that they would be
killed if they come out to surrender.
“Secondly, escape is risky and could attract instant
execution. So, it takes a lot of planning and guts to come out and surrender.
Consequently, the flow is slow, but we are convinced that our message regarding
the safety of surrendered terrorists is loud and clear. Therefore, more
surrenders will happen in weeks ahead.
“Surrendered terrorists are usually interviewed to get a
grip on their level of investment and thereafter profiling. On completion of
these processes they have been released to the relevant authorities for further
action. Only Nigerians will be sent to Operation Safe Corridor. Other countries
have their own structures and procedures.”
From military records, on October 10, 2019, the Defence
Headquarters, Abuja, confirmed 281 former Boko Haram fighters in Gombe State
undergoing the “structured deradicalisation process.”
Of the 281 fighters, 254 members including two Chadians were
returned to their states for reintegration after completing the programme.
On May 15, 2020, the DHQ confirmed that 603 former Boko
Haram fighters would be released by June after undergoing the programme.
Then, 47 also surrendered to the MNJTF troops in the second
week of July in Cameroon.
The total number of the surrendered insurgents between
October 2019 and July 2020 gives 931 repentant fighters.
In another development, the Minister of Defence, Maj Gen
Bashir Magashi (retd.), has said the Federal Government has inducted several
military campaigns in the Niger Delta region targeted at curbing oil thefts in
the area.
The defence minister listed crimes in the region to include
illegal refineries, pipeline vandalism, degradation and desecration of the
lands by hoodlums.
Magashi spoke in Abuja on Friday, while receiving the
Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, who was on a working visit
to the ministry headquarters, according to a release obtained by our
correspondent. The release was signed by Magashi’s Special Adviser on Media and
Publicity, Mohammad Abdulkadri.
Source
No comments