Borno state Governor Babagana Zulum has said the ‘Safe Corridor’, a deradicalisation process of Boko Haram terrorists, has failed.
He said those who had undergone process spied on the host communities which resented them, after which they returned to join their colleagues.
To this end, the governor said there was an urgent need for the country to engage mercenaries to end the menace which had plagued the North-eastern part of the country for over a decade.
Governor Zulum spoke Wednesday at the North-East Governors’ Forum meeting at the Banquet Hall, Government House, Bauchi state.
Other governors in attendance were Ahmed Fintiri of Adamawa, Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe, Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir of Bauchi, while Taraba and Yobe states were represented by their deputies.
Addressing the meeting, Governor Zulum said: “Your Excellencies, another aspect of the war against the insurgency that needs to be urgently reviewed or modified, is the issue of deradicalisation of Boko Haram terrorists, who have been captured or have willingly surrendered themselves to the authorities.
“It has been confirmed that the concept of deradicalisation or Safe Corridor is not working as expected. Quite often, those who have passed through the Safe Corridor Initiative, or have been deradicalised, usually go back and rejoin the terror group after carefully studying the various security arrangements in their host communities, during the reintegration process.
“In addition, the host communities where the reintegration process is going on usually resent the presence of Boko Haram terrorists, even if they have been de-radicalized, because of the despicable and atrocious activities they have committed in the past.
“So the idea of deradicalisation, as currently being implemented, needs to be reviewed because the main goals and the underlying objectives behind the initiative are not being achieved,” the governor said.
He further said: “The best option is to immediately prosecute the terrorists, in accordance with the Terrorism Act. However, those people who, ab initio, were forcefully recruited but have been rescued or have escaped from the group, should be the ones to be subjected to the deradicalisation process.”
Delayed trial of terrorists
He regretted the delay that often characterise the prosecution of terrorists, saying prosecutorial powers should be devolved to the state Attorneys-General to quicken the process.
“On the prosecution of terrorists, we must make efforts to avoid the current encumbrances and intricacies associated with the process, which usually takes considerable time, by urging the appropriate federal authorities to devolve the powers of the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation to State Attorneys-General in order to facilitate the prosecution process.
“At the moment, only the Attorney-General of the Federation is statutorily empowered to prosecute terrorists, which, quite often, results in avoidable delays. We once again call on the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to delegate his prosecutorial fiat to the States Attorneys-General to prosecute such cases in their respective states as justice delayed is justice denied,” Zulum said.
..Slams FG
While saying the federal government seems not committed enough to the insurgency fight, the governor said time was ripe to seek foreign support to rout the terrorists.
He said: “The Federal Government has to look into the possibility of involving mercenaries with a view to ending the insurgency because it seems the commitment is not there.
“For us to end this insurgency, we must be committed enough. We must bring in external support to ensure mercenaries are hired to end this insurgency.
“I want to use this opportunity to call on the Federal Government to seek for support from our neighbours, especially the Republic of Chad, Cameroon and Niger to provide a joint action that will look into the possibility of ending the crises.”
The governor, who believed the meeting would proffer lasting solutions to the security crisis in the North-east, congratulated all the service chiefs on their appointment and urged them to bring their experience to bear on the insurgency fight.
“We shall be expecting a significant improvement in the security situation in the subregion and the country at large. It has become as a matter of tactical necessity for the new service chiefs to devise new strategies to counter current attacks and forestall any future attacks,” the governor stated.
While assuring of his colleague’s readiness to continue supporting the armed forces to enable them successfully tackle insecurity in the sub-region, he however called for the formation of a similar security outfit as obtained in other parts of the country.
“On our part, in addition to the logistics and financial support we are rendering to the armed forces in their fight against general insecurity in the sub-region, we should also look into the possibility of forming a security outfit within the ambit of constitutional precedent and operational feasibility as being done in other parts of the country,” he said.
Let’s think out of the box – Bala
Welcoming his colleagues to the meeting, Bauchi state Governor Mohammed said there was need to think out of the box in tackling security challenges in the North-east.
Mohammed said: “We must be honest in appraising the situation, be bold in confronting those who want to destroy our country and be patriotic in the choice that we must make to stop the enemies of our states.
“If we must be honest, the public opinion at the moment is that we have failed, that many of our compatriots have adamantly resorted to self-help in order to get away from this despondency.
“We must accept the fact that an over internal centralized security arrangement is an insolate tool for tackling the monstrous and death scenario playing out in our country, especially our region.
“Recently, my predecessor as F.C.T Minister and Governor of Kaduna State, Nasiru El’-Rufai, advocated the need for state police. Now I agree with El-Rufai and other governors who have called for it.”
