Commission for ‘repentant’ Boko Haram: Rewarding criminality

Introduction

There is an adage that says “where there is no law, there is no sin”. In trying to regulate human behaviour, every society has a set of laws, codes, regulations aimed at punishing wrongdoing so as to serve as deterrent to others who may want to indulge in such crimes. As the Americans say, “if you do the crime, you do the time”. It is essentially in order to moderate human behaviour that all civilised societies set up administration of justice procedures and structures. So, there is the police, courts and prisons. Anyone who commits crime is arrested, investigated and if found guilty by competent court of law is sent to prison or asked to pay fine in lieu of going to jail.

Even in the days of yore, before the advent of the modern adjudicatory systems, the traditional rulers supported by kingmakers and or council of chiefs perform the role of executive, legislature and judiciary.  They rule, formulate laws, hold court sessions in their palaces, mete out punishment to offenders and even have local prisons where those found guilty of serious crimes are held in custody.

When Boko Haram insurgents decided in 2009 to wage war against the Nigerian state, the insurgents must have known that they are committing a crime that can lead to loss of their lives but they do not care a hoot whether they live or die. In fact, many of them are misguided through indoctrination that they are fighting jihad, “Holy War” and that should they die in the course of it, they die a martyr. That is the more reason those who subscribe to Boko Haram ideology could volunteer to carry out suicide bombing on innocent compatriots who have committed no crime.

It is thus very disheartening to see many of the insurgents previously arrested being released under the guise of having been deradicalised. Thousands of these insurgents have so far been released and reintegrated back into the society with claims in some quarters that some of the deradicalised former members of the sect are being secretly recruited into the Nigerian Army, a claim the army authority has debunked. How effective have these deradicalisation and reintegration policy of federal government been? Recall that the initiative came on stream in 2017.  In my opinion, it is of doubtful success as these insurgents continue to relentlessly attack the BAY states (Borno, Adamawa and Yobe). Indeed, just few days ago, precisely on Monday, March 23, 2020, Boko Haram insurgents ambushed and killed over 70 Nigerian soldiers of the Operation Lafiya Dole . The soldiers were killed in Gorigi near Allargano Forest general area of Borno State.

The nation is still debating the utility of the deradicalisation policy of government before former Yobe State governor, now Senator representing Yobe East, Ibrahim Geidam brought a Private Member Bill seeking a Commission for so called ‘repentant’ Boko Haram members. The bill was read for the first time on the floor of the Senate on March 25, 2020. Since then, it has generated a lot of controversy muted only by the fear over Covid-19 pandemic ravaging the world at this time.

Bill seeking establishment of Commission for Boko Haram insurgents

The bill as proposed by the Yobe East senator among other things:

Provides an avenue for rehabilitating, de-radicalising, educating and reintegrating the defectors, repentant and detained members of the insurgent group Boko Haram to make them useful members of the society; Provides avenue for reconciliation and promote national security; Provides an-open-door and encouragement for other members of the group who are still engaged in the insurgency to abandon the group especially in the face of military pressure.

Others include, it gives the government an opportunity to derive insider-information about the insurgence group for greater understanding of the group and its inner workings as gaining a greater understanding of the insurgents will enable the government to address the immediate concerns of violence and study the needs of de-radicalisation effort to improve the process of de-radicalisation; Helps disintegrate the violent and poisonous ideology that the group spreads as the programme will enable some convicted or suspected terrorists to express remorse over their actions, repent and recant their violent ideology and re-enter mainstream politics, religion and society.

According to the document, the agency will create vocational rehabilitation for the members – which will give the detainees opportunities to learn carpentry, clay shaping, pottery, use of art through drawings, among others.

Gory statistics of damage by Boko Haram insurgent

According to the February 29, 2020 features on the bill by Premium Times, “records show that of the 2.3 million people displaced by the conflict intensified in May 2013, at least 250,000 have fled Nigeria into Cameroon, Chad or Niger. The insurgents killed over 6,600 in 2014 alone. The group also carried out mass abductions including the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in April 2014 (as well as 110 girls from Dapchi in Yobe State in February 2018). In 2017, former Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State said the Boko Haram insurgency had led to deaths ‘’of almost 100,000 persons going by the estimates of our community leaders over the years.” Over 14 million Nigerians have also been directly affected by humanitarian crises in the North-east region of the country, two international humanitarian groups reported. The groups also said 13,000 churches were razed, 1,500 schools shut, and 611 teachers killed by the insurgents.”

The newspaper observed further that:  “The Borno Government in 2017 said about 1 million houses and public structures were destroyed by Boko Haram in the 27 local government areas of the state. Many more have since been affected over the years. It also said the insurgents destroyed properties worth over N1.9 trillion in six years. At least 25,794 people were killed in various attacks, many by Boko Haram, during the first term of President Muhammadu Buhari between May 2015 and May 2019, a report analysed by PREMIUM TIMES also indicated.”

The perpetrators of these heinous crimes are the people we are treating with kid’s glove hoping that they will embrace peace and abandon their daydream of converting the whole country into an Islamic Republic. The mere thought of this is horrific and preposterous!

My position on the issue

I am against the deradicalisation and reintegration policy of the federal government as well as the proposed establishment of a Commission for ‘repentant’ Boko Haram as articulated by Senator Ibrahim Geidam for the following reasons:

It shows that government is weak and incapable of winning the war against the insurgents without appeasement to the aggressors. This perceived weakness will encourage more people to take to crime in the hope of claiming to have become repentant once they are caught. As can be seen, many criminal elements who engaged in banditry in North West region state of Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara are now being appeased to lay down their arms and embrace amnesty. Despite this offer, these fiends that should have been ruthlessly dealt with for their economic crimes are still having a field day, kidnapping innocent commuters and villagers, engaging in cattle rustling and armed robbery. There is no gainsaying that Nigerian state is very weak and incapable of protecting its innocent citizens.

When the government of former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua packaged an Amnesty Programme to pacify the Niger Delta militants in 2009, I knew it was a bad precedent which will come to haunt the government. It was the argument that the militants were granted amnesty so the Boko Haram insurgents should also be pardoned that is being canvassed by the supporters of Senator Geidam’s bill. Yet, is incongruous to compare apples with oranges. The militants in Niger Delta were fighting for the emancipation of their despoiled land and calling for economic justice. On the other hand, what rational idea are the insurgents propagating? Should Nigeria succumb to them by granting the insurgents their wish to have Islamic Caliphate or turn Nigeria into an Islamic Republic when the Constitution of the country stated that it is a secular state? Research has shown that religious bigotry, fanaticism and fundamentalism is most difficult to deradicalise hence since 2017 when the policy of deradicalisation was initiated, insurgency is yet to abate.

In summary, granting amnesty to insurgents and bandits is akin to rewarding criminals for committing heinous crimes against innocents. How does that look on the victims if their aggressors are garlanded for committing crimes? Quite saddening, the Internally Displaced Persons, many of whom have lost means of livelihood including loved ones are being made to suffer untold hardships. Save for the establishment of Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development which is less than a year old, nothing much has been done to ameliorate the deplorable condition of IDPs in Nigeria. Yet, these are the persons whose welfare and wellbeing should have been paramount and not that of the aggressors who plunge them into their miseries.

Conclusion

To my own mind, setting up a commission for repentant Boko Haram is needless and wasteful. As earlier pointed out there is already a deradicalisation programme of federal government since 2017. If the governors of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa intends to grant amnesty to those who have tormented their citizens, they can go ahead and do so within the powers granted them by the Nigerian Constitution to grant pardon to criminals. Otherwise, the operational scope of North East Development Commission can be expanded to support ex-Boko Haram members who have genuinely repented and remorseful of their crime. But while they do this, they should remember whether this is in sync with natural justice, equity and fairness. They should think about how the families of our gallant soldiers who have died in the course of these 11-year war and the millions who have been maimed and displaced will feel.

This piece was first published in the centerspread of THISDAY newspaper of Tuesday, March 31, 2020