Ibrahim Gaidam’s Prickly Boko Haram Story -By Yemi Adebowale

It was so depressing watching the APC Senator representing Yobe East, Ibrahim Gaidam, saying that many Boko Haram terrorists “are willing to lay down their arms but are afraid of the consequences of their action.” He said numerous members of the group had defected and many more are willing to repent if given a window of opportunity.

Gaidam added: “There is the need for a more strategic and comprehensive approach to entice those members of the group, who after realising the futility of the course they are pursuing, have eventually decided to voluntarily lay down their arms and chose the path of peace.” These bloodthirsty terrorists are evidently not interested in amnesty, except Gaidam knows what we don’t know. The facts on ground don’t support this. In the last five years, Boko Haram has intensified attacks on innocent Nigerians and the military, killing thousands of people. Perhaps, this former governor is one of those with access to the terrorists. He is unaware that the military achieved virtually nothing with its own rehabilitation programme for captured terrorists.

This former governor of Yobe State, who proposed a bill for the education, deradicalisation, and rehabilitation of “repentant insurgents,” in the Senate last week, added salt to injury when he said the victims of Boko Haram were already being taken care of by the North East Development Commission. Haba! Which commission? Over a million IDPs are wallowing in abject poverty and hunger in camps across the North-east, yet, Gaidam says they are being well taken care of.

Obviously, this former governor of Yobe State lacks ideas on how to end Boko Haram insurgency. Deradicalisation and rehabilitation can only come after the Boko Haram leadership and its members have been degraded. We can’t put the cart before the horse. The government must do the needful by degrading the terrorists.