The Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Dangyadi, on Tuesday, said President Muhammadu Buhari is considering accepting and reintegrating repentant Boko Haram terrorists and bandits who voluntarily surrender to the Nigerian govt, back into the society, because they are Nigerians.
Dangyadi, who was a guest on a Channels TV programme, said the Buhari administration was listening to surrendering bandits and is ready to receive and reintegrate them into the society.
“When you talk of amnesty, it is a relative term. What the federal government is trying to say is that let us try and see those who have surrendered their arms, let us listen to them, let us chronicle them, let us receive them. We cannot just throw them away, because they are Nigerians.”
The Minister who cited international law practice in the treatment of prisoners of war, said though the insurgents committed crimes against humanity, “those that surrender would be received and reintegrated into the society.”
“Of course, they are criminals; they have committed atrocities, committed crimes. But, according to international law, when you surrender from war, you are not killed or maimed. You are allowed to have your say.”
According to the Dangyadi, the administration was “listening to them and seeing how we can integrate them into the larger society.”
He added:
“But the question of giving them amnesty, I don’t think that is the way to go. What we are trying to do is to get them to settle in their various communities and let them have a means of livelihood.”
