Governor of Borno State, Northeast Nigeria, Professor Babagana Zulum, on Tuesday said that over 2,600 Bojo Haram/Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists and their families are in custody in his State.
But Governor insists that not all the terrorists who have surrendered are criminals.
The Governor also said that in the last 12 years of the Boko Haram insurgency in Northeast Nigeria, over 100,000 people have been killed.
Zulum told journalists at the Presidential Villa, Abuja after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday far from all of them being terrorists, many of those who surrendered are women and young children who were forced to join the insurgents where they were trained to handle weapons including the terrorists’ weapon of choice, the AK-47s.
Assuring that all the surrendered terrorists and their families would be subjected to the extant laws of Nigeria, Governor Zulum, however, stated that no law prescribes the killing of surrendered insurgents.
He said that the surrendered terrorists and their families would be trained for the purpose of reintegration.
But he added that victims of the Boko Haram/ISWAP insurgency would be taken care of, saying: “They will not be left behind.”