Repentant terrorists swear oath with Quran before reintegration, says Borno

The Borno State Government has allayed the fears that many repentant terrorists reintegrated into society after the rehabilitation and deradicalisation programme will go back into terrorism.

The state government noted that a key part of the programme is swearing by the Quran, a strategy considered strong enough to prevent them from taking up arms again.

The state Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development, Zuwaira Gambo, stated this in an interview with Newscentral television, aired on Monday, saying that taking an oath with the holy book without adhering to it has implications.

She said, “When they come to us through all the processes of the Borno model, the last thing they do is, they take an oath with the Quran. Once you swear by the quran, you know the implication”

“People assume that they will go back to the bush; well, they may, but they are dead on arrival. So, it is not even about whether they have been certified or we trust them or not. The law of the jungle takes care of that. The moment you step out, and you surrender to the constituted authority, you become an infidel,” she said.

The Commissioner, however, highlighted that key challenges, including finance, have been affecting the smooth running of the programme

“The challenge, of course, has to do with funding, because you bring a lot of people on board, but how are you going to feed them, how are you going to clothe and provide for them with necessary access to education,” she stressed.

On April 19, PUNCH Online reported a growing outrage over the recent graduation and planned reintegration of 744 former terrorists under the Federal Government’s De-radicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration programme, Operation Safe Corridor.

The beneficiaries, drawn largely from conflict-affected states, completed the programme with 597 of them from Borno State, while others came from Adamawa, Yobe, Kano, and several other states across the country.

The development at the time triggered widespread debate over transparency, accountability, and the impact of reintegration on victims of violent extremism.

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe, said the policy, though not inherently bad, raised serious concerns over secrecy and lack of oversight

He said, “Reintegrating persons who may have unleashed violence or burned properties or committed other criminal activities into communities without addressing the hurt of the victims would appear as compensating perpetrators while overlooking the victims.

Similarly, the Country Director of Amnesty International in Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, said, while international law supports the reintegration of those who surrender, the Nigerian process lacked transparency.

Sanusi said, “There are serious concerns that some of those called repentant sometimes go back to what they do. The government must be transparent about who they are and their level of involvement. Tell the people who these people are, what kind of terrorism they were involved in, and whether they were informants or killers. These things have to be made very clear.”