Repentant Insurgents Can Be Prosecuted – Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said that contrary to the misleading report attributed to him, repentant insurgents could be prosecuted.

 

The minister, who spoke in Washington DC, said he was misrepresented in the report claiming that “the decision of the federal government not to prosecute repentant insurgents was in line with global best practice.”

 

The minister, however, reiterated his position that the call to ‘shoot’ repentant insurgents without profiling and prosecution was against best global practice.

 

Mohammed said his words were unambiguous and repeated what he said in the report.

 

“I personally spoke to the military authority before I left Nigeria and they said that what they were doing was what the global practice dictated about soldiers that surrendered they should be treated as prisoners of war.

 

“You cannot just shoot them because there are international conventions that give rights also to prisoners of war.

 

“What the military is doing is that, when they surrender, they profile them to ensure that they are genuine and reintegrate them into the society,’’ he said.

 

He reiterated his position that President Muhammadu Buhari and the military should be commended for their doggedness, which he said had made insurgents to submit themselves to the authorities in droves.