B’Haram/ISWAP: After Surrender, Kiss and Make-up?

CiCERO

IN THE ARENA

Under intense, bloody, costly offensives by Nigerian military, over 1,000 Boko Haram/Islamic State West Africa terrorists recently surrendered. How will devastated, bloodied Nigerians get justice and closure? Asks Louis Achi

Apparently pulverised by the sustained military air strikes and artillery bombardments, over 1,000 battle-fatigued, leaderless and demoralised Boko Haram fighters and their families recently surrendered to the Nigerian security forces. In May, the terrorist group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, a reputed cat with nine lives, reportedly blew himself up to avoid capture by members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) who had surrounded his base in Sambisa Forest in the North-east zone.

The repentant Boko Haram members, according to a statement by an elated army, included the group’s chief bomb expert known as Musa Adamu a.k.a Mala Musa Abuja, and his second-in-command, Usman Adamu a.k.a Abu Darda.

However, while the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya, has asked other insurgents to abandon their illegal cause and also surrender to troops, the development has naturally spawned considerable concerns amongst Nigerians following the release of pictures of repentant terrorists being extended kind treatments, including provision of clothes, beverages and drinks by the Nigerian Army.

But the Nigerian Army Headquarters was quick to counter such budding perceptions and while debunking suggestive online reports, clarified that there was no plan to free two Boko Haram commanders arrested recently.

Such reports are triggering seething anger from many Nigerians who believe there should be harsh consequences for terrorists who have decimated, orphaned and widowed countless innocent citizens.

For example, a justifiably embittered widow of Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Sakaba who was killed by Boko Haram terrorists, Oluwaseun, has berated the Nigerian Army for allegedly ‘commending’ the 1,081 terrorists and their families that surrendered in Bama, Borno State.

Photos shared on the Army’s Social Media page showed the surrendered terrorists displaying several placards with different inscriptions, including “Nigerians, please forgive us.” “Surrender and live,” “Surrender and be free,” among others.

The Acting General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division and Commander Sector 1 OPHK, Brigadier General Abdulwahab Eyitayo, had also said “their decision to drop their arms and come out is highly commendable, enjoining them to advise other terrorists to surrender and “embrace the new life of peace and rehabilitation.”

The surrendered terrorists and their families totalling 335 fighters, 746 adult women, and children were subsequently given new clothes “and assorted food items, groceries and toiletries.” They would reportedly be rehabilitated and reintegrated into the society in line with the President Muhammadu Buhari government’s programme of reintegrating ‘repentant’ terrorists in the Northeast.

It could be recalled that a report last year by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had stated that the terror group had killed not less than 350,000 people since 2009. The programme of rehabilitating the insurgents has continued to draw intense criticisms from many Nigerians.

A sorrowful Oluwaseun, widow of Colonel Sakaba, while reacting to the pictures and the comments in a post on her Instagram page, lambasted the Nigerian Army, wondering why the terrorists should be forgiven after their atrocities. She also accused the army of pretence and not paying the dues of her late husband.

Reacting to her allegations, the Director of Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, said in a statement that the Nigerian Army was not interested in joining issues with anyone with respect to the enormous sacrifices made daily by its gallant troops.

He, however, said it was expedient to address the weighty allegations credited to the widow.

The statement said the army acknowledged the emotional agony associated with loosing loved ones, stressing that it cannot be quantified by any unit of measure.

It noted that the death of Col. Ibrahim Sakaba, like those of other officers and soldiers who paid the supreme price in the war against terrorism in the North-east, was painful to the Nigerian Army.

“Therefore, it will be totally a mischief and an assault on the psyche of our troops, who are relentlessly fighting, to begin to insinuate any plot against one of our own.

“And what is the plot here? That troops were led by their commander for an operational engagement is not a plot, as any one may want to insinuate. Rather, it was a clear military mission with clear objective.

“It is however disheartening that this gallant officer and some of his men paid the supreme price in the operation and we pray fervently for the repose of their souls,” the statement explained.

The army also denied her claim that her husband’s entitlements had not been paid.

According to the statement, Master Samuel Ibrahim Sakaba, the son of Mrs Seun Sakaba is the Next of Kin (NOK) to the late Senior Officer and the only child.

The army noted that all entitlements meant to be paid by the NA have been paid to him through Mrs. Oluwaseun Sakaba.

The statement was silent on the widow’s position that the terrorists should not be forgiven after all the atrocities they had committed.

Sakaba was one of the 44 soldiers killed by the insurgents during an attack on 157 Task Force Battalion in Metele, Guzamala Local Government Area of Borno State in November 2018. After his death, he was hailed by colleagues for his exemplary leadership.

Former presidential aide Reno Omokri also condemned release of the photographs, noting that, “The administration shared photos of so-called repentant Boko Haram terrorists and asked Nigerians to forgive them…while seeking to prosecute Sunday Igboho for protecting the same innocent Nigerians.”

In further clarification, the army has stressed that all the surrendered terrorists would be received, processed and passed on to the relevant agencies of government for further assessment in line with extant provisions.

“It must be known that the Nigerian Army will never encourage any act of lawlessness or extra-judicial killings. Accordingly, all surrendered terrorists will be received, processed and passed on to the relevant agencies of government for further assessment in line with extant provisions,” the army said.

It maintained that the force, being a professional military organisation, would continue to act in accordance with the dictates of the Nigerian Constitution, as well as international best practices.

Under international humanitarian law, it is prohibited to make the object of attack a person who has surrendered. Dissecting this subject matter of surrender necessarily spawns several posers. Under what circumstances is the act of surrender effective under international humanitarian law? What is the template for surrendering during warfare? How could survivors of brutal, bloody terrorism get justice and closure?

It could be argued that its crystallisation as a law of war is derivable from the lack of military necessity to directly target persons who have placed themselves outside the theatre of armed conflict, and that such conduct is unacceptable from a humanitarian perspective.

Does this scenario extend an automatic shield from justice to the repentant Boko Haram terrorists? Meanwhile, for dislocated, deprived, and embittered Nigerian masses warehoused in poorly maintained and provisioned IDP camps across the country, it’s morning yet on creation day.