Repentant Terrorists’ Reintegration: Russian Roulette Or Strategy?
By Our Editors
Before we place the final full stop to this editorial, at least one person must have been kidnapped, one or two families must have paid ransom to secure the release of their relative(s) in captivity, one or more souls must have been snuffed out for failure of their kith and kin to part with their hard earned money, stuff it into a duffel and place the bulging bag at the feet of Nigeria’s reigning overlords: bandits.
The picture painted looks exaggerated if not outlandishly incredible. But it is apt and hard-edged. It is a pointer to the frequency at which insurgency is carried out in Africa’s most populous nation. The use of ‘must’ underlines the certainty that the events will happen. ‘Must’ have been advisedly used; it is the operative word in the opening paragraph. Bandits, if you like terrorists, are on the prowl and every Nigeria is a potential victim. Even the political elite and moneyed bags are not immune to abduction by bandits as recent incidents have shown.
There has been a steady surge in terrorism in Nigeria for over a decade now. According to the Global Terrorism Index, Nigeria recorded the largest increase in terrorism deaths globally in 2025, with fatalities rising by 46% from 513 in 2024 to 750, this unpleasant development placed Nigeria fourth behind Pakistan, Burkina Faso and Afghanistan.
Terrorism, no doubt, is a real handful. Fighting terrorists have run the Nigerian government ragged. However, this is no justification for taking the easy way out by saying captured and even surrendered terrorists are repentant and deserve to be reabsorbed into society. To what end is this policy? Is this to prove to the nation that an erstwhile killer is now a study in penitence? Is it to show that crime pays and people are not held accountable for their actions in Nigeria? How did we get here?
The Nigerian military has finalised the graduation and reintegration of 744 former terrorists back into society. The reintegration is a culmination of a 24-week training in the de-radicalization program under Operation Safe Corridor in Gombe State. These subhumans who used to take delight in savage attacks, have been given clean bill of health. Bandits who took refuge in the fastness of thick forests are back in decent habitations sharing same space with sane people. The same people they inflicted violence on. The same people they razed and ravaged their homes.
How do you think their victims will feel? What will be the feelings of children rendered fatherless, motherless or, in worst cases, orphans? What of the deracinated victims who took shelter in the Internally Displaced Persons’ camps after attacks on their homes? Traumatized widows whose husbands were killed before their very eyes would feel betrayed by the government. Families whose breadwinners were sent to the great beyond by bandits will sink deeper into the quagmire of depression.
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Olufemi Oluyede, recently held a brief for the ‘Operation Safe Corridor’ policy. He noted that reabsorbing bandits into society is better than their outright elimination. Oluyede spoke at the inaugural lecture of the Armed Forces Joint Doctrine and Warfare Centre (JDWC) at the Nigerian Army Conference Centre in Abuja.
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“Talking about Operation Safe Corridor, so many people have asked that question: why do we need to rehabilitate criminals? They all should be killed because they have killed people. Well, that may make sense,” he said.
Drawing a moral analogy, the CDS referenced the biblical story of the prodigal son to highlight the value of offering a chance for return and redemption.
“But even in the Bible, we heard about the prodigal son. If there was not that window for the man to come back, would they have come back?” he added.
He continued, “So the point is they are Nigerians first. And it’s important for us to give them that window to repent, if they want to. Rather than pushing them to the extreme, to say ‘it’s either we kill you, or you continue with your adventure,’”
No! CDS, repentant terrorists are not like the prodigal son. The Biblical prodigal son is a spoiled brat who exploits his father’s affection to demand his portion of the father’s inheritance. The father indulges his son’s whim and aceeds to his demand. The son goes on a spending spree and soon becomes penniless. Destitute, penniless and confused, he retraces his steps back home and seeks forgiveness from his father. The prodigal son in his moment of craze never for once kills people or burns housés. He does not hold people hostage. More so, the story is a parable, meaning it’s fabled and not an actuality. Nigeria may be a paradox but definitely it’s not a parable.
It’s quite unfortunate that the Nigerian military whose officers — hundreds of them — have paid the supreme price in the line of duty is superintending over the initiative. This is like galumphing on the graves of the departed intrepid soldiers. It amounts to adding insults to the injuries of their bereaved dependants and relatives. This is unbecoming and uncharitable. Tolulope Arotile, Abu Ali and others, felled by terroists’ bullets, must be turning in their graves.
We must be unequivocal in our choice of words and rhetoric when fighting terrorism. There is no room for prevarication. ‘Repentant’ can be used to qualify many words but not bandits and terrorists. Referring to someone as Repentant bandit reeks of incongruity; it is a misnomer. Bandits, repentant or not, do not understand the language of peace. They are psychopaths with snatches of lucidity; they are not only demented but also demonic.
The government is taking a risk and the citizens will be the collateral damage if it boomerangs. Rehabilitation of insurgency appears to be pure experimentation. Nigerians might be used as guinea pigs to ascertain the viability or otherwise of this so called de-radicalisation programme. Is the government playing Russian Roulette with the citizens’ lives? Do those at the helm think of the long-term consequence of this initiative? How sure are they that they bandits are genuinely repentant?
Reintegration of bandits into society is like a horseplay, it doesn’t always end well. The end of horseplay is a body covered in bruises. Sometimes, in a manner of speaking, getting involved in horseplay costs an arm and a leg. Yet, it appears the government is bent on taking this route.
Bandits, when arrested, don’t deserve pardon, amnesty or rehabilitation. They deserve to be led to the guillotine, gallows or tied to the stake and set on fire, offering the public a visual feast in pyrotechnics, as they embark on a journey of ‘no-return’ to the afterlife. This is the only way to give closure to the families of the victims of their attacks and not through rehabilitation.
There is another argument that most of those being rehabilitated were forced into banditry. It is said that a chunk of them are erstwhile victims who were trained and schooled in the act of violence. This argument holds no water. Whether through volition or force, how a bandit or terrorist gets recruited is inconsequential. The strain of violence in those forcefully infected with banditry are even more virulent. This is because they often see hell before they are handed ‘salvation’.
It’s hightime the Nigerian government stopped living in a fool’s paradise and realized that reintegrating terrorists into society will not end banditry and allied insurgency. The idea is cowardly. It speaks of capitulation by the authorities. You don’t pacify terrorists, you face up to them and finish them off. They are no gods to be appeased. And the government will be tragically mistaken to romance terrorists whether repentant ones or those in active service.
The Nigerian government is sitting on a powder keg and mistaking it for an ergonomic chair by reintegrating insurgents into society. The whole idea is wrongheaded. The rationale behind the policy is misguided and myopic. Bandits, insurgents, terrorists or whatever name you choose to call them did not become what they are overnight. They are a product of indoctrination. They are as fiendish as they’re fanatical. Their mission is to steal, kill and destroy.
The nation has lost many innocent souls to insurgency.This metastatic disease, which originated in the North, has affected every other part of our body politic. Nigeria’s human capital has been badly hit by insurgency. It’s foolhardy to bring those responsible for this monumental loss back into our fold. Rehabilitation of bandits is not magnanimity but sheer recklessness. Governance is a serious business not social experimentation. Government should not turn Nigerians into guinea pigs.
