Ex-Boko Haram adherent regrets tearing up her NCE certificate because of misinterpretation of Quran and Islam
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
A former Boko Haram adherent, Fatima Musa, has expressed regret for tearing up her National Certification Examination (NCE) certificate – which qualified her to teach at primary and secondary school levels – because the Islamist jihadists brainwashed her to believe that Western education was sin.
Musa, who has since undergone de-radicalisation, shared her experience at a community dialogue organised by the Allamin Foundation for Peace and Development (AFPD), which runs a private de-radicalisation project focusing on female members of the sect in the North East.
“We were deceived in our youth through a misinterpretation of religion, only to later realise that we had gone down the wrong path.
“I regret tearing up my NCE certificate when I foolishly embraced the distorted belief that Western education was Haram (forbidden),” she said.
Head of AFPD, Hamsatu Allamin, disclosed that Islamic clerics who are involved in de-radicalisation and counter extremist use superior religious arguments.
She said Boko Haram is an ideological group misled by distorted interpretation of the Quran, therefore, well-versed clerics are essential in correcting the misconceptions by teaching the true principles of Islam as a religion of peace.
Allamin stressed that many women who voluntarily joined the sect but have since been de-radicalised through her foundation are playing a crucial role in persuading others to surrender.
“Some of these women are responsible for calling their female friends, husbands, and children in the bush to convince them to surrender,” she said, per Tribune.
The ‘Borno Model’, introduced in 2021 by the Governor Babagana Zulum administration, is a non-kinetic approach that offers insurgents willing to renounce violence the opportunity to surrender to the military.
The model relies primarily on dialogue to persuade Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters to lay down their arms at designated reception centres and embrace peace.
“This is a community-driven initiative geared towards a win-win situation; both parties stand to gain from the model,” said Retired Brig-Gen Abdullahi Ishaq, Security Adviser to Zulum, during a presentation on the initiative.
The first group of nine insurgents, accompanied by their 11 wives and 12 children, surrendered and were brought to Maiduguri on 5 July 2021, which prompted a mass surrender, with over 100,000 laying down their arms in a few months.
Chief of Army Staff General Christopher Musa confirmed earlier this year that more than 250,000 people have surrendered as a result of the non-kinetic approach.
Last week, Zulum briefed a Sahel security think tank, the Alliance of Sahel Institute for Security Studies, alongside members of the Norwegian Institute for Conflict Resolution, disclosing that over 300,000 jihadists have now surrendered.
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