Babagana Zulum, Borno governor, says he has been attacked by
Boko Haram insurgents “more than 40 to 50 times”.
Speaking on Tuesday while briefing state house
correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the
presidential villa, Zulum said over 100,000 people have been killed in the
12-year-old insurgency in the north-east.
The governor said about 2,600 insurgents have surrendered and
are now in custody, adding that not all of them are criminals.
He said many of those who surrendered are women and children who were forced to join the insurgents and trained to handle AK-47 rifles.
“I came to brief Mr. President over the ongoing surrender by
insurgents. I think, to me, and to the greater majority of people of Borno
state, this is a very good development,” Zulum said.
“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 percent
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 welcomed development. Unless we want to continue with
an endless war, I see no reason why we shall reject those that are willing to
surrender.
“I’ve been in this. For the last 11 or 12 years, I was
attacked for more than 40 to 50 times. I know the magnitude of this problem.
More than 100,000 people were killed, I’m telling you. Therefore, I’m in total
support of this ongoing surrender by the insurgents, we support them and those
who have surrendered shall be dealt with according to the extant rules and
regulations.
“But mind you, among those that have surrendered, some are
innocent. They were forcefully conscripted into this programme. Some are
teenagers, below the ages of 11, 12, who can handle AK-47 and there’s one very
important thing that Nigerians need to understand; if this issue of Boko Haram
insurgency is not resolved, I believe it will never end because it is a
generation.”
Zulum added that no law prescribes the killing of surrendered
insurgents, saying that they would be trained for the purpose of reintegration.
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