Repentant Insurgents: Lawan calls for caution, says some may not be genuine

President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan has expressed that Nigerians must be cautious in accepting repentant Boko Haram insurgents begging forgiveness.

He stated this while speaking with reporters after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa on Monday.

Lawan stated that measures must be put in place to ensure that the repentant insurgents are “genuine”.

“We need to screen those who are genuine and those who may just follow in for some reasons, but I do not subscribe to the idea of saying forget about people who are surrendering, all of them are criminals and the rest of it,” he said.

“In the law of war or something, when somebody surrenders, you have something to surrender and of course, maybe you’ll do some profiling and find out whether this is someone who is genuine.

“I believe that we should give people the benefit of the doubt, but we should also be very circumspect on those who may not be genuine in this, but we should accept people when they come and take the appropriate measures, get the right strategies on how to deal with the reintegration of such people into the community.”