Borno State Governor, Prof Babagana Zulum
ABUJA, Feb 11 (NNN-Xinhua) — Over 30,000 terrorists comprising members of the Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) groups have so far surrendered to troops in Nigeria’s northeast region, a senior official said here.
Relative peace has begun to return as the security agencies have continued to take measures aimed at checking the activities of terrorists, Babagana Zulum, governor of the northeastern state of Borno, told reporters after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari about the goings-on in the region.
Zulum, however, declined to state when exactly the terrorists’ surrender began.
“This insurgency in the northeast will soon be a thing of the past,” Zulum said, describing it as a “welcome development.”
The senior official said the state government had been able to engage the terrorists through constant dialogue and mediation which, according to him, yielded fruitful results.
He dismissed the speculation that the repentant insurgents were assured of any promissory notes before they surrendered, saying those who surrendered willingly would be treated differently from those captured by the Nigerian troops on the battlefields.
“The way we are going, with the support of the federal government with good management, Boko Haram will be over very soon,” he added.
ISWAP has been collaborating with its sister group Boko Haram to establish an Islamist state in northeast Nigeria. The terror groups have also extended their attacks to other countries in the Lake Chad Basin. — NNN-XINHUA
