At least 27 fishermen have been confirmed dead and four others abducted by Boko Haram terrorists on the fringes of the Lake Chad basin around the border between Nigeria and Cameroon.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that the terrorists suspected to be from the Buduma faction of Abou Ummaymah, attacked a local fishing community harbouring mostly fishermen from Nigeria at the Kofiya Island near Darak in the Republic of Cameroon.
A counter-insurgency expert and security analyst in the Lake Chad, Zagazola Makama, revealed that the terrorists asked them to lie down, tied their hands before killing them.
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The sources said the terrorists also abducted four other fishermen after accusing them of spying for the ISWAP faction.
The bodies of the fishermen were later recovered during a search and rescue operation by troops and other fishermen who received the news from victims who fled the attack scene.
Meanwhile, several retired soldiers have warned the Federal Government to be cautious regarding the rehabilitation and reintegration of repentant terrorists who have gone through the government’s deradicalization programme, Operations Safe Corridor.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the OSC which began under former president Muhammadu Buhari has run for several years and seen no fewer than 4,000 ex-Boko Haram members go through the programme.
In Gombe State alone, for instance, in September 2023, no fewer than 2,168 ex-Boko Haram members were said to have passed through the De-radicalization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration camp at the Kwami Local Government Area of Gombe State in the last eight years.
Recall that in January last year, no fewer than 613 rehabilitated terrorists undergoing de-radicalisation were scheduled to be handed over by the military authorities to their respective state governors.
However, in July 2022, some repentant Boko Haram members, despite renouncing their membership of the terror group, were accused of having contact with their former colleagues, supplying them intelligence.