Borno elders Forum Commended for rejecting repentant Boko Haram members

The Borno Elders Forum has been commended for its patriotic call to President Muhammadu Buhari to stop the practice of releasing so called ‘repentant’ Boko Haram members.

In a statement released yesterday, the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, said he fully aligns with this call and feels vindicated because twice in 2018, he gave precisely this counsel to the President, which he did not heed. “It makes no military or practical sense to release hardened terrorists, who have taken the very precious lives of members of the Nigerian Armed Forces, on the flimsy excuse that they have been deradicalised or repentant,” he said in the statement signed by his Media Adviser, Mr Paul Ibe.

The statement further reads: “As Atiku Abubakar said last year, and says again, any right thinking person can see that escalation of the war on Nigeria by Boko Haram/ISWAP coincides with the introduction of this repugnant policy by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

“Abubakar urges President Muhammadu Buhari to cast his mind back to the testimony of Abba Umar, a Boko Haram commander, who after his arrest, boasted that he would return to join the sect in Sambisa if he was ever released.”

The former Vice President subsequently advised the President: “To show single minded resolve and commitment to defeating the common enemies of our nation and to do so without betraying any weakness, as this will only embolden the terrorists.”

The PDP Presidential candidate commended the position of the Borno Elders Forum and urged other bodies of elders to learn from their sagacious courage to speak the truth to power.