How 13 ‘Repentant’ Terrorists Escaped With Rifles, Motorcycles

No fewer than 13 so-called “repentant” Boko Haram terrorists have reportedly escaped with rifles and motorcycles they got from the Borno State government.

Stonix News reports that the renegades were some of the hundreds co-opted into the Nigerian military in the fight against the insurgents in the state.

They are among thousands of former Boko Haram fighters and their families who surrendered to the government.

It was gathered that 13 of them attached to the military operatives in Mafa escaped from their camp between September 1 and 2.

Recall that last year, Borno Governor Babagana Zulum had said that more than 160,000 Boko Haram members and their families voluntarily surrendered to the military amid a sustained military onslaught.

The “repentant” Boko Haram members and their families are being managed under the Borno Model, a post-conflict amnesty programme with a focus on deradicalisation, rehabilitation, reintegration and resettlement of low-risk persons previously associated with armed groups.

Reports said nearly 6,000 combatants are awaiting “transitional justice, ” and Borno State Government further co-opted some of the ex-fighters into the fight against insurgency, helping the military to penetrate deep into the terrorists’ enclaves.

The “repentant” fighters have become helpful to the military. They are popularly known as “hybrid forces” formed by the military fighting insurgency in Borno State

“Together, they have conducted joint operations to locate and destroy Boko Haram weapons caches, rescue hostages, and fight the remaining jihadists.”