ACF To FG: Defeat Terrorists Before Granting Amnesty, Reintegration

The apex northern socio-cultural organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has called on the Federal Government to defeat terrorists and insurgents for them to surrender first before reintegrating them into society or granting them amnesty.

ACF, while urging extreme caution, said the government should study Rwanda and Sri Lanka on how they handled terrorism and insurgency in their countries.

Speaking with LEADERSHIP on the telephone while reacting to the reported government’s terrorist reintegration plan, ACF National Publicity Secretary, Prof. T. A. Muhammad-Baba, said terrorists should be brought to justice and face their victims in courts and plead for forgiveness, adding that it was up to victims to forgive terrorists and not the government.

ACF kicked against granting amnesty to terrorists while the interests of the victims were not being considered.

“This amnesty, these deals and so on with terrorists and bandits, in the first place, when you want to do that, there has to be accountability. What of the victims? What happened to them? The wrong was done to the state represented by the government, but the harm was inflicted on individuals, people, and families. What is their fate? It has been tried in Rwanda, but in Rwanda, the terrorists are taken before a Special Court and made to confess their sins, and they are confronted by their victims. And it was up to the victims to forgive or not. And if they don’t forgive, the law would take its course”

The forum further stated, “Now, when you do this kind of thing, in the first place, we don’t have enough details. The federal government just announced something. You know, who has wronged these people? And what of the unfortunate victims of their activities who have nothing? You go into a village, you burn, you loot, you kill, you maim, you rape. What for? Innocent people. Look, I think we have to go back to the experience of other countries first. Sri Lanka faced an insurgency, but the government ensured overwhelming success. When the insurgents realised they could not succeed, the peace process began. I would love to see this in Nigeria.”

ACF added, “I would love to see a situation where the government shows unequivocally that it will prevail with overwhelming force to discharge its duties to citizens. And then we can talk about other non-kinetic measures. But that is, we don’t have enough details. We worry about the victims. We worry about the nature of a reorientation that these bandits and terrorists were put through.

“No details. So, in short, we urge extreme caution, one. Two, we add that the interests of victims should be taken into consideration. And the final person who will forgive is not the government, it’s the victim. If they so wish. There has to be retributive justice. You just cannot carry arms. It’s not even against the state. It’s against the people.  We don’t have enough details. What can one say? We just express our opinion about it, and that’s all,” the forum cautioned.