Dispute With Shekau, Misinformation – Ex-Boko Haram Insurgents Reveal Details Of Life In Sambisa Forest

Former members of Boko Haram have recounted how coercion, misinformation, years of hardship and disillusionment with insurgency eventually pushed them to abandon the group and surrender to Nigerian authorities.

Some of the former fighters, now undergoing rehabilitation in Maiduguri, Borno State, said they spent years in terrorist camps before deciding to return to society through the state government’s non-kinetic reintegration programme.

The Sun reports that one of the former fighters, identified simply as Liman, said he never deliberately set out to become a member of the insurgent group.

“I told myself one day that the life of a terrorist is a terrible one. So I quit, but escaping the camp wasn’t an easy task,” he said.

Liman explained that he was intercepted by insurgents around Kross Kawa in northern Borno in 2014 while attempting to flee insecurity in Kukawa.

According to him, the insurgents took him and several others to their camp, where they were separated into groups and subjected to ideological instruction.

“They asked us many questions from the Holy Qur’an and then separated us into different groups,” he recalled.

Liman said he later lost contact with his family and eventually learnt that his parents and a brother had died.

Another former fighter, Mohammed Ibrahim, said he joined Boko Haram after being influenced by friends and later regretted spending more than a decade with the group.

“I would have done something meaningful with my life instead of bearing arms and engaging in violence for over a decade,” Mohammed said.

He said he eventually abandoned the group after becoming disillusioned with life in its camps.

Former fighters interviewed said life under the insurgents was highly controlled, with movement and communication heavily restricted.

According to The SUN, They also alleged that misinformation was routinely used to discourage members from surrendering to Nigerian authorities.

A former Boko Haram cleric, identified as Malam Bashir, said he once held a prominent religious position within the group and worked closely with its late leader, Abubakar Shekau.

Bashir said disagreements over religious interpretation eventually brought him into conflict with Shekau.

He claimed that he was detained after challenging what he described as distorted interpretations of Islamic teachings.

“I was locked up in jail in Sambisa. Later, someone came to tell me I would be executed after Sallah,” he said.

Bashir said he later regained his freedom during the internal conflict between Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province.

He alleged that insurgent leaders frequently told members that soldiers would kill them if they surrendered.

“They lied to us that the military would kill us, and that the government would inject us with strange drugs to kill us slowly. They scared us every time with such lies,” he said.

Some former fighters said messages from relatives, former combatants and government campaigns gradually changed their perception about returning home.

Another former member, Idrissa, said communication from his mother and friends encouraged him to leave the insurgents.

“I listened to my mother and friends on social media, asking me to return. I’m glad I did,” he said.

Others said information circulated through community campaigns and messages delivered to areas around insurgent enclaves also helped counter narratives being spread by the groups.

Military authorities in Borno State say more than 100,000 insurgents and members of their families have voluntarily surrendered over the past five years.

The development followed the introduction of the Borno Model in July 2021 as part of efforts to reduce the number of people remaining in terrorist enclaves.

Governor Babagana Zulum has described the initiative as a community-driven, non-kinetic approach built around dialogue, rehabilitation and voluntary surrender.

The Special Adviser to the governor on Security, retired Brig.-Gen. Abdullahi Ishaq, said the programme rests on three major pillars — disarmament, demobilisation and deradicalisation.

“Borno State focuses on restorative justice based on rehabilitation, reconstruction of communities affected by insurgency, and resettlement of displaced persons as well as victims of the violence,” Ishaq said.

According to Ishaq, surrendered fighters considered suitable for the programme are taken to rehabilitation centres in Maiduguri and surrounding areas.

There, they undergo religious reorientation, civic education and lessons on Nigerian laws and social values.

Islamic clerics, lawyers, police personnel and community leaders are involved in different aspects of the programme.

Participants are also offered vocational training in skills such as carpentry, phone repairs, welding, plumbing, pottery and barbering.

Ishaq said many of those who surrendered had originally been forcibly recruited into terrorist groups.

The security adviser disclosed that 9,680 low-risk former Boko Haram fighters and members of their families had so far been reintegrated into communities.

He said community involvement had reduced resistance to the return of former fighters.

“We no longer have issue of rejections as experienced during Operation Safe Corridor. This is because community leaders are involved,” he said.

“They ask questions from the repentant fighters and absorb them after these checks.”

Ishaq added that officials continue to monitor the reintegrated individuals through feedback from community leaders.

The programme has also enabled children from families that left insurgent camps to return to school.

Idrissa said his 10 children had been enrolled in school following his surrender.

He said the decision had changed his attitude towards western education while allowing his children to continue receiving Islamic knowledge.

Chairman of the North-East Civil Society Organisations Forum, Ahmed Shehu, said the surrender and deradicalisation programme had contributed to the peace process despite existing challenges.

“Looking at the larger picture of the security situation in the North-East, we have to forgive these people,” he said.

“We either forgive and accept them, as Governor Zulum once said, or they remain in the bush attacking us.”