The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says contrary to the misleading report attributed to him, repentant insurgents can be prosecuted.
The minister, who spoke in Washington DC on Saturday, August 21, 2021 said he was misrepresented in the report claiming “the decision of the Federal Government not to prosecute repentant insurgents was in line with global best practice”
The minister reiterated his position that the call for the shooting of the repentant insurgents without profiling and prosecution was against best global practice.
The minister 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 what they were doing is what the global practice dictates about soldiers that surrendered that 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 applauded the military for the recent increase in the number of insurgents that are turning themselves in.
We must not forget that two months ago, Nigerians were putting pressure on the President to recruit mercenaries to fight the war against terror because they said we were losing the war.
The President, however, remained focused and confident in his belief in the Nigerian military that they have what it takes to defeat the insurgents.
We thank God that Mr President today has been proven right.
We were able to achieve this, largely because of the leadership of Mr President in providing the wherewithal continually to the military and ensuring that their fighting morale is sustained by way of welfare packages’’ he said
