It was Professor Wole Soyinka, the great wordsmith, who once said: “The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny.” But let me ask a question: What happens to a governor who shouts at soldiers to crush terrorists in the morning, and then turns around to give them (terrorists) a hero’s welcome and empowerment packs in the evening?
Welcome to Borno State. Welcome to Governor Babagana Zulum’s absurd theater. The same governor who stands on top of armoured vehicles to scold the military, screaming that they are not doing enough, that they are cowards, that terrorists should be crushed like cockroaches, has now done the opposite. He has reintegrated 720 so-called “repentant” Boko Haram members. That is almost 1000 human beings who, until recently, were actively killing and abducting our children, women, men and members of the armed forces.
At the graduation ceremony held at the Hajj Center in Maiduguri, they were made to swear with the Holy Quran never to return to evil. They held the Quran and promised to become good citizens, and the government gave them glossy certificates and empowerment packs.
What is the guarantee? A Quran? They swore on the Quran before they went into the bushes, towns and villages to kill. They swore on the Quran when they kidnapped. They swore on the Quran when they ambused and beheaded our soldiers. And now, they are swearing again on the same Quran. Which Quran should we believe? The one before or the one today?
I am not an enemy of peace. I am a man who believes in second chances, but let me tell you what bothers me. My problem is that we have lost the ability to be consistent. As mentioned earlier, Governor Zulum and his northern colleagues want our troops to crush terrorists in the morning but hold an empowerment ceremony for same terrorists in the afternoon. What hypocrisy!
Let me draw your attention to something the governor has refused to see. 720 terrorists were freed alongside their 992 wives and 2,050 children. Do the maths! 992 wives for 720 men. That means some of these men have four, five, six wives. Women who were raised for terror. Women and children who have known nothing but abduction, bombing, shooting and beheading. Women and children who were taught that killing is a ticket to paradise. You are sending them back to communities where people lost fathers, mothers, siblings and brothers. And you think they will just start living together with other women whose husbands died as victims of terror? No, my friend. Children of slain parents are still grieving and angry. Those women, who lost their husbands during raids, will be so bitter to see the killers returning with glossy certificates and empowerment packs. Let me tell you that for free!
What about the soldier who was killed? What do you say to the soldier who was deployed to the frontline because the governor screamed that the military was not doing enough? That soldier went. He fought. He lost his leg and colleagues. Today, he is in hospital, and on the television in that hospital, he sees men who shot at him and even killed his colleagues, brandishing certificates and receiving empowerment packs. Is that not a mockery of sacrifice?
Let me say it plainly. The reason this is happening is not complicated. Terrorism is big business in the North. It is a very lucrative but bloody business.
I frown at the so-called reintegration programme. Real reintegration would take place when a terrorist genuinely confesses, offers restitution for havoc caused, and is forgiven by the families of his victims.
The reintegration thing has never worked. The model has always failed. Zulum is not the first governor to try it.
I bet, in weeks and months, we will hear that some of them have returned to the evil they know how to do best, then we will know that we were fooled by Zulum. It has happened before, it will happen again.
