The Federal Government has admonished “naysayers” to stop spewing negative and false narratives around Boko Haram members who are surrendering in droves in the North-East.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed gave the admonition in an interview with the newsmen on Friday in Washington.
It was reported that no fewer than 1,000 Boko Haram fighters and their families have handed themselves over to army units in recent weeks in the southern Borno towns of Konduga, Bama, and Mafa.
The minister berated those who were alleging that the surrendered insurgents were not actual Boko Haram fighters and if they were, they should be shot rather than granted amnesty.
He also described as “false and demoralising’’ the claim in certain quarters that the surrendered insurgents would be recruited into the Nigerian military.
Mohammed added that the call for the prosecution and killing of the repentant militants rather than granting them amnesty was against global best practices. He believes that they cannot just be shot and killed because there are international conventions that give rights also to prisoners of war.
According to him, what the military is doing is that, when the insurgents surrender themselves, they profile them to ensure that they are genuine and reintegrate them into the society.
