Ibrahim Gaidam, senator representing Yobe East, has explained why he sponsored a bill to create a commission to oversee the de-radicalisation of repentant Boko Haram insurgents.
Addressing the media Monday, February 24, Abuja, Gaidam said that the proposed commission would help repentant insurgents to “re-enter mainstream politics, religion and society.”
The “Bill for an Act to establish a National Agency for the education, de-radicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration of repentant insurgents” would promote reconciliation and national unity when established and provide an avenue for rehabilitating, de-radicalising, and reintegrating the defectors, repentant and forcefully conscripted members of the insurgent group Boko Haram to make them useful members of the society
It will provide an avenue for reconciliation and promote national security; provide an-open-door and encouragement for other members of the group who are still engaged in the insurgency to abandon the group, especially in the face of the military pressure and allow the government to derive insider-information about the insurgency group for greater understanding of the group and its inner workings.
He said: “Gaining a greater understanding of the insurgents will enable the government to study the needs of de-radicalisation effort, improve the process and address the immediate concerns of violence; Enable Government to use the defectors to fight the unrepentant insurgents and help disintegrate the violent and poisonous ideology that the group spreads as the programmme will allow some repentant defectors or suspect terrorists to express remorse over their actions repent and recant their violent doctrine and in the long run, re-enter mainstream politics, religion and society.”
According to him, the commission will also help to combat future recruitment into the insurgents group, adding that: “If defectors told their stories and were made more public, their experiences would play a key role in countering terrorist propaganda, which in turn would lessen the appeal of joining the group.”
