The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed displeasure with the government’s policy of de-radicalising and reintegrating repentant Boko Haram members into society.
Chairman of the forum, Chief Audu Ogbeh spoke in a statement he personally signed on Tuesday.
The statement titled, ‘On repentant Boko Haram Terrorists and the Principle of Equity and Justice’, noted that the supposed repentance of the terrorists was not enough justification to pardon their heinous crimes.
“We are currently witnessing large scale surrender of large numbers of Boko Haram Insurgents, among whom are bomb makers, commanders, arsonists, rapists, and child snatchers.
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“Do we have good reason to cheer and hope for an end to this decade-old insanity? Is ‘I am sorry’ enough to bring relief to Nigerians and the thousands of the dead and the maimed? What of those victims bombed in the churches, mosques, schools, and markets? What of all the men and women in uniform murdered by them?
“Who can count the thousands of widows and orphans they have created?
“So, what do we do with them? Should we just embrace them and trust them wholesale? Are their moves informed by altruistic repentance? We seriously doubt.
“We join the Governor of Borno (Babagana Zulum), the Shehu of Borno, Senator Ndume and millions of Nigerians in pondering over this development and our simple advice is: Bring them to trial, or free all others presently in custody anywhere, while we Nigerians plead guilty of naivety and gullibility in the extreme, punishable by more insurrection and anarchy,” the statement read.