Thirteen former fighters of Jama’tu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JASDJ), widely known as Boko Haram, have reportedly escaped with rifles and motorcycles provided by the Borno State government.
These ex-fighters were initially co-opted into assisting military operatives in the ongoing fight against insurgents in the state.
These individuals are part of a larger group of former Boko Haram members and their families who surrendered to the government as part of an initiative aimed at addressing the insurgency.
Last year, Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum revealed that over 160,000 Boko Haram fighters and their families had voluntarily surrendered to the military amid an intensified military campaign against the group.
The surrendered fighters and their families are being managed under the Borno Model, a post-conflict amnesty program focused on deradicalization, rehabilitation, reintegration, and resettlement of low-risk individuals previously associated with armed insurgent groups.
Sources familiar with the program indicated that nearly 6,000 combatants are currently awaiting “transitional justice.” Furthermore, the Borno State Government has integrated some ex-fighters into anti-insurgency efforts, assisting the military in penetrating deeper into terrorist enclaves.
These “repentant” fighters have now become helpful to the military. They are popularly known as “hybrid forces.”
Transitional justice is one of the key steps identified in the Borno Model policy aimed at facilitating truth, reconciliation, justice and peace building in the community, according to a document seen by our reporter.
The Nigerian military in Borno State formed “hybrid forces” with some of these former combatants because of their previous ties with the insurgents and their knowledge of the insurgents’ enclaves. Together, they have conducted joint operations to locate and destroy Boko Haram weapons caches, rescue hostages, and fight the remaining jihadists.
“Their involvement has significantly helped the military,” a defence journalist in the state told our reporter. “They have led the troops into the hideouts of the terrorists where the military recovered a large amount of ammunition around the Timbuktu axis.”
According to PREMIUM TIMES, the military provides the ex-fighters with sophisticated rifles, motorcycles, and ammunition for joint counterinsurgency operations. These weapons are always recovered from them after any operation.
Unfortunately, 13 of them attached to the military operatives in Mafa escaped from their camp between the 1st and 2nd of September, Malik Samuel, a researcher with a deep understanding of jihadi groups in northeastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin region, told our reporter.
Mr Samuel, a senior researcher with Good Governance Africa, said eight ex-fighters first escaped from the camp on 1 September before five others followed suit the next day.
He said the escapees called Abdullahi Ishaq, a special adviser to the government on security matters, threatening to unleash more violence.
After their escape, the jubilant terrorists released a video brandishing the rifles.
Mr Ishaq, a retired brigadier general who promoted the Borno Model programme, could not be reached for comments.
He did not respond to calls and messages sent via SMS and WhatsApp. Also, calls and messages sent to the Acting Deputy Director of the army’s operations in Borno, Operation Hadin Kai, Rugben Kovangya, and the Borno State Commissioner for Information & Internal Security, Usman Tar, were not responded to.
This is not the first time ex-fighters and their families who surrendered would return to their previous lives, multiple sources, including Mr Samuel, told PREMIUM TIMES.
They said this was worrisome because it seemed planned.
“The reason for their exit may have to do with the management of the Borno Model programme,” a source familiar with the workings of the programme said in confidence. “These guys were promised many things… about skill acquisition, stipends, a better life and reintegration into the society, but not many of these promises have been kept by the government.”
The “repentant” terrorists and their families had staged protests, as seen here and here, decrying poor planning [by the government] and demanding better welfare and a clear reintegration procedure.
According to Mr Samuel, the terrorists fled to Darul Gazuwa, a renegade Boko Haram faction led by a senior commander, Alhai Kale. The group, Mr Samuel said, terrorises villagers around Bama, Konduga, Mafa and Dikwa.
PREMIUM TIMES understands that the escapees risk death if they return to Boko Haram enclaves in Mandara Mountain, which Ali Ngulde controls, or the Barwa Island, where Bakura Doro, the overall Boko Haram leader, holds sway.
“Hence they chose to go to the Alhai Kale-led Darul Gazuwa faction,” Mr Samuel explained, adding the renegade faction, although disagrees with Mr Doro’s leadership, “they are still technically part of JASDJ.”
The group mainly specialises in kidnapping-for-ransom and highway robbery, Mr Samuel noted, adding “economic reasons contributed to the recidivism.”
(PremiumTimes)
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