Repentant Terrorists Take Oath Before Reintegration; Says Nigerian Government
The Borno State government has said that the oath taken with the Holy Quran by repentant insurgents remains a key pillar of its rehabilitation and reintegration programme, insisting it serves as a strong safeguard against a return to violent extremism.
The government explained that the deradicalisation process concludes with a religious oath, which participants are made to swear after completing all stages of rehabilitation under the Borno model.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Zuwaira Gambo, has said that the final stage of the programme involves taking a binding oath with the Holy Quran, which she described as a serious moral commitment.
She said, “When they come to us through all the processes of the Borno model, the last thing they do is, they take an oath with the Quran. Once you swear by the quran, you know the implication.”
Gambo has said that the oath is treated with high spiritual significance and is intended to discourage beneficiaries from breaking their commitment after reintegration into society.
“People assume that they will go back to the bush; well, they may, but they are dead on arrival. So, it is not even about whether they have been certified or whether we trust them or not. The law of the jungle takes care of that. The moment you step out, and you surrender to the constituted authority, you become an infidel,” she said.
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She, however, acknowledged that funding challenges remain a major obstacle in the implementation of the programme, particularly in providing welfare, education and reintegration support.
“The challenge, of course, has to do with funding, because you bring a lot of people on board, but how are you going to feed them, how are you going to clothe and provide for them with necessary access to education,” she stressed.
The clarification comes amid ongoing national debate over the Federal Government’s Operation Safe Corridor programme, under which 744 former insurgents recently graduated and were cleared for reintegration into society.
Of the beneficiaries, 597 are from Borno State, while others were drawn from Adamawa, Yobe, Kano and other parts of the country, triggering renewed scrutiny over transparency and accountability.
The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe, has said that while the policy may not be fundamentally flawed, its implementation raises concerns over victims’ rights and public accountability.
He said, “Reintegrating persons who may have unleashed violence or burned properties or committed other criminal activities into communities without addressing the hurt of the victims would appear as compensating perpetrators while overlooking the victims.”
Similarly, the Country Director of Amnesty International in Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, has said that the government must ensure greater transparency in the reintegration process, warning that some beneficiaries could relapse if oversight remains weak.
Sanusi said, “There are serious concerns that some of those called repentants sometimes go back to what they do. The government must be transparent about who they are and their level of involvement.
Tell the people who these people are, what kind of terrorism they were involved in, and whether they were informants or killers. These things have to be made very clear.”
