The victims attacked by Boko Haram in the Northeast have shown anger and blasted the FG for restoring and reinstalling members of the terror group while they were left to rot away in the camps. illustrating government action as cruel and the height of insensitivity, the traumatized victims said the government has not been fair to them, many of whom were killed, inflicted with life threatening injuries and their property destroyed. They said it was unacceptable to them for government to bring the same killers back into the community to co-exist with the same people whose lives they destroyed. The military had in 2016 launched Operation Safe Corridor, an initiative for the deradicalisation and rehabilitation of ex-Boko Haram members with the objective of reintegrating repentant Boko Haram members into the society. Last week, 601 Boko Haram members who have been deradicalized were released by the army to the Borno State Government to be rejoined with their families and relations, a situation that generated a lot of tensions among the public, victims, and host communities. Abuja Some of the IDPs,who spoke to Vanguard at their camp located at Kuchingoro, Abuja, also faulted the government for its N20,000 monthly stipend to some rehabilitated members of the terrorist group, expressing fears that government’s action may rather strengthen the terrorists’ activities in the region. According to a 44-year-old man who identified himself as Ahmadu Giro at the camp, “how do you explain the fact that the government that doesn’t even know how we live here, how we are surviving here and how we feed in this camp is busy spending money to rehabilitate people who without any provocation, took up arms and killed many innocent and law abiding citizens of the country and also destroyed their sources of livelihood? Does it make any sense?” The father of three boys and a girl said they have resigned to fate as the government which they were counting on for rehabilitation following the losses they incurred in the hands of the terrorists have abandoned them. He said:”The last time we saw government’s presence here was five months ago when officials of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA,came here with a bucket of liquid soap and hand sanitizer to educate us on the need to adhere to coronavirus safety measures.” Another IDP, who gave his name as Nuhu Bala, told Saturday Vanguard that he narrowly escaped the insurgents’ attack in 2016 in Bama, Borno State, adding however that his mother and father were not lucky to escape. “It was a miracle that I managed to escape the Boko Haram’s attack in Bama, Borno State in 2016. I lost my parents during the attacks. How I escaped and managed to be here at this camp is still a surprise to me. Apart from my parents, we lost everything to that fateful attack. Ever since, life has not been the same. So, for government to not only to rehabilitate these attackers but also place them on monthly N20,000 stipend is a gross injustice to the victims,” he said.
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