Amnesty window for Boko Haram

Many Nigerians raised eyebrows recently when newspapers reported Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima as calling for ex-President Umaru Yardua’s Niger delta-styled amnesty for Boko Haram members. The general  public feeling is that the viciousness of the insurgents has long gone past a case of amnesty; that there can only be a military solution to the […]

Many Nigerians raised eyebrows recently when newspapers reported Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima as calling for ex-President Umaru Yardua’s Niger delta-styled amnesty for Boko Haram members. The general  public feeling is that the viciousness of the insurgents has long gone past a case of amnesty; that there can only be a military solution to the murderous Boko Haram sect that has killed, maimed, bombed, raped, abducted and otherwise displaced thousands of people from their homes in such wantonly indiscriminate manner.
Yet, any suggestion on Boko Haram by Governor Shettima should be listened to, because the state he governs is the ground-zero of the insurgency and he obviously has  a grasp, more than most Nigerians, of the sect and how it can be tackled and contained. Moreover, Shettima was not canvassing wholesale amnesty for Boko Haram. What he is calling for is the creation of an amnesty corridor to lure repentant members to abandon the sect on terms to be dictated by the Nigerian military.
The governor’s Special Adviser on Communications and Strategy, Malam Isa Gusau, provided an important clarification. He said Governor Shettima had been consistent in his belief in a three-pronged strategy to tackle Boko Haram. The three elements of his strategy are a military campaign, an economic approach that will create jobs and address the deprivation that drives some youths to join the sect, as well as an amnesty corridor that would encourage repentant insurgents to defect, thereby weakening the sect’s more intransigent leadership and accelerating its demise.
 There was a concrete reason for resuscitating the third suggestion, according to the governor’s spokesman. Shettima said Boko Haram forcefully abducted hundreds of young men from their villages on pain of death and initiated them into the sect. Due to the military pressure now being exerted on it, many of these forcefully recruited young men want to drop their arms and run away. What the governor is advocating is an amnesty offer that encourages such persons to surrender themselves to the authorities. 
Earlier this month the media reported that Boko Haram had invaded Miringa village in Biu local government area of southern Borno State and slaughtered 16 people. It turned out that the 16 men were Boko Haram insurgents that sought to abandon the fight and return to normal lives. What happened, as locals later told security forces, was that some sect members who are indigenes of some villages in Damboa Local Government Area planned to abandon the sect. Many of them stayed back partly for fear of what the sect’s commanders might do to them and their families, and partly because they felt that attempting to surrender to the army could be too dangerous.
However 16 of the boys that summoned courage abandoned the camps and fled to Miringa village in Biu Local Government Area of southern Borno State. They joined natives of Ajigin and Talala villages in Damboa Local Government, who had been taking refuge in Miringa. They arrived there on   July 3 and that same night, according to locals, Boko Haram commanders dispatched a team to Miringa that went from house to house and fished out the 16 defectors. They did not fire a shot because soldiers were not too far away. They then slaughtered 11 of them and took away the other five. Shettima’s idea is that if the defectors had the option of surrendering to the army with a reasonable assurance  of safety, they would have headed for Maiduguri instead of Miringa village. He believed that there were many more hundreds of such boys ready to surrender and they should be given a chance to do so.
Governor Shettima’s suggestion is reasonable and worth a careful consideration by the military and political authorities. Of course, this in not to say that insurgents who give up their misguided mission should allowed go scot-free, after all the atrocities they have committed and are still committing. Yet a measure that, together with the sustained military campaign, will encourage mass defections, weaken the sect, accelerate its demise and hasten the end of the insurgency should be considered. Those who surrender should still ultimately be made to answer for their heinous crimes.