14-year-old terrorist surrenders to Army

A 14 year old Boko Haram terrorist, identified as Rawa Babagana, has surrendered to troops of Operation Lafiya Dole in Borno State.

In a statement signed by the spokesperson of Operation Lafiya Dole, Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu, the teenager escaped from a terrorist enclave in Kekeno in the northern fringes of the Lake Chad Islands.

His statement read, "A 14-year-old Boko Haram insurgent, Rawa Babagana, has surrendered to troops of Operation Lafiya Dole. The insurgent escaped from the Boko Haram enclave in Kekeno in the northern fringes of the Lake Chad Islands. He is currently been profiled.

"It is clear that the remnants of the Boko Haram Terrorists are hell bent on remaining relevant by attacking soft and vulnerable targets and therefore calls for collective vigilance by all security stakeholders and members of the public. Members of the general public are therefore urged to be watchful and discern strange persons and suspicious activities in their communities and report to the security agencies."

Babagana's surrender comes at a time when the Federal Government is relentlessly appealing to terrorists to lay down their arms and surrender to troops so as to be granted amnesty.

President Muhammadu Buhari made a personal appeal to terrorists last month that the government is ready to rehabilitate and integrate such members into the larger society.

"This country has suffered enough of hostility. Government is, therefore, appealing to all to embrace peace for the overall development of our people and the country."

The president's Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, also said during an interview on Sunday, April 1, 2018, that making peace with the terrorist group will greatly benefit the country as government can focus on other things.

He said the Federal Government should be able to reintegrate them back into society as long as they stop fighting and express remorse.

"Whoever is peddling these rumours that Boko Haram is being granted amnesty and so on I would ask them who doesn't want to make peace with the enemy?

"In any case as it is proverbially said all wars end up in the boardroom. You can defeat people technically in the field but at the end you must come to the conference room to resolve all issues.

"So if Boko Haram would lay down their arms and stop fighting and stop preaching that negative ideology, the country should be able to embrace them, welcome all of them so that they continue to live normal lives and be useful to the nation," he said.

Boko Haram menace

Since the insurgency of the terrorist group escalated after a 2009 crackdown by the military, Boko Haram, chiefly under Abubakar Shekau'sleadership, has been responsible for the death of over 20,000 people and the displacement of more than 2.5 million scattered across Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps across the country and its neighbours.

After a massive military operation resulted in the displacement of the group from its Camp Zairo base in the infamous Sambisa Forest, it has resorted to suicide bomb attacks on soft targets and carried out daring attacks on military bases, with hundreds of captives still unaccounted for.