And so, on the fateful day in 2013, they were at the Government House, Maiduguri as guests of Governor Kashim Shettima. These young army of orphans were there for Iftar (breaking of Ramadan fast) with the state’s Number One citizen. They had been orphaned by the inimical grace of Boko Haram insurgency. They were victims of circumstances they could not comprehend. They are the wailing children as life meant nothing to them any longer.
Shettima told the 50 orphans that they fell automatically into the state’s scholarship scheme. He charged them to take their education seriously and pointed out that the scholarship scheme would cut across orphans from both Muslim and Christian backgrounds.
While interacting with the children, the governor jokingly asked them to tell him stories and, in the process, the unexpected happened. He got the good and bad stories. The governor was visibly shaken and almost in tears when one of the children, a girl, painted a vivid picture of how her parents were butchered in her presence in their Budum ward residence in Maiduguri. The girl explained how the parents pleaded passionately with the attackers to spare their lives for the sake of their children, but they still went ahead and slaughtered them while she watched helplessly.
Governor Shettima was visibly shaken and almost in tears when one of the children, a girl, painted a vivid picture of how her parents were butchered in her presence in their Budum ward residence in Maiduguri. The girl explained how her parents pleaded passionately with the attackers to spare their lives for the sake of their children
A boy told the governor that since his father was killed, he had given up hope and, in fact, was expecting death because he had become a liability nobody wanted to see or associate with. The children, in unison, prayed to God to protect and bless Governor Shettima who had become their breadwinner.
Unable to bear the sorrow, the horror, the mental torture, the anguish enveloping the North East, Dr Uzor Orji Kālu, former Abia State Governor, in his column in the Leadership Newspaper of May 30, 2014, under the title, “How Much is Life Worth in Nigeria?”, voiced out, “I have always found it hard to believe that some human beings were merely created by God to cause others discomfort, grief and pain. I cannot fathom any reason a person created by God should behave so barbarously as to take the life of his fellow human being. But recent events in the world, particularly Nigeria, have caused me to have a re-think.”
He went on, “Are you not a witness to the atrocities going on all over Nigeria? From east to west, north to south, the story is the same. To some people, life is not worth anything anymore. They kill and maim as easily as they gulp a glass of wine. This is how brutish life has become in Nigeria.”
Dr. Kalu continued, “Worried by this situation, I, throughout the weekend, was pondering on the sad events that have occurred in recent times and how much impact they have had on the psyche of those that have fallen victims. The first question that came to my mind was why should God deliberately create such evildoers to populate the world and possibly thwart His plans for humanity? That question quickly led to another: where do we go from here, at the end of our earthly journey? I wonder if there is anybody that can assuredly provide answer to these questions. Each of us must account for our deeds, good or bad.”
With the insurgency substantially degraded and decimated, efforts have moved further to reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement of the victims of the terror act. Side by side with this is the de-radicalisation process of the insurgents that were arrested, as well as those who surrendered. While some of the Internally Displaced Persons have been relocated to their homes, efforts are not spared at ensuring that the IDPs, numbering about two million, are ultimately taken back to their original abode with the strict compliance to the Kampala Convention that no IDPs must be forced back to return to their initial homes against their wish.
Borno State, the epicentre of the insurgency, takes the lion’s share of all the calamities wrecked on the people by the insurgents. For example, at the last count, over two million houses were destroyed, about 70,000 orphans and 65,000 widows recorded, about 100,000 souls perished and seven billion dollar-worth of public property and infrastructure were razed by the terrorists.
As pointed out, the reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement of the IDPs are progressing especially, in Borno State, the worst hit zone, with Governor Kashim Shettima administration taking the lead.
Though the de-radicalisation process is on, this is being conducted with utmost caution due to its sensitive nature. There are various processes entailed with involvement of specialised bodies at every given point. This is to ensure that at the end of it all, the grain is separated from the chaff.
Despite concerted efforts, however, the question that has always cropped up is that, will the ongoing de-radicalisation process not, in some way, lead to radicalisation? In short, will the de-radicalisation of the insurgents not lead to radicalisation of some of the victims? If it does, what is the possible way out or solution to this?
In the process of de-radicalisation, the extremists or fanatically committed and irredeemable ones with blood on their hands and violence as their slogan are separated from the followers, some who were involved due to ignorance, survival instinct or joined the group under compulsion. While the violent and extreme ones are made to face the law, others are debriefed by learned Islamic scholars through subjecting them to superior argument based on the true position of the Holy Book (The Quran) to dislodge or disabuse their minds of the already infused doctrine which negates the true Islam.
This and other steps, including the engaging of the minds of the debriefed sect members, will facilitate their reintegration into the larger society.
*Izekor, a journalist, public affairs analyst, is a member of the Board of Advisers of The Point.
