EDBorno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum has said that not all the repentant 2600 insurgents who surrendered to the government are criminals.
He reiterated that over 100,000 people were killed in insurgency attacks in the North East region since the crisis started in 2009 after the extrajudicial killing of the leader of the Boko Haram Group, Mohammed Yusuf in police custody.
Zulum said this while briefing state house correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday, August 24.
He explained that many of the repentant insurgents were women and children who were coerced to join the movement while others who voluntarily joined and wielded AK 47 guns will be treated in accordance with the laws of the land.
Zulum said, “I came to brief Mr President over the ongoing surrender by insurgents. I think, to me, and the greater majority of people of Borno State, this is a very good development.
“In the last 12 years, thousands of lives were lost, people have completely lost their means of livelihood. We have a total number of over 50,000 orphans and widows; these are official figures.
“The unofficial figures are more than this, and we were able to cultivate not more than three per cent of our total arable land because of the insurgency and right now, the whereabouts of not less than 10 percent of people of Borno State is not known to all of us at all.
“This is a very serious matter and I think the report of the surrendering of the insurgents, to me in particular and to the greater people of Borno State, is a very welcome development. Unless we want to continue with an endless war, I see no reason why we should reject those that are willing to surrender.”
ED
