A former governor of Yobe State, representing Yobe South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Ibrahim Gaidam, has vowed not to lobby any of his colleagues to support his controversial bill.
The bill is titled, ‘A bill for an Act to establish a national agency for the education, rehabilitation, de-radicalisation and integration of repentant insurgents in Nigeria.’
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Gaidam who said this following the criticisms that had greeted his bill, especially from some of his colleagues, told journalists in Abuja that he was not desperate to see the proposed legislation passed at all cost.
He also said he did not consult the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, before coming up with the bill because he did not see any reason to discuss with him or any other senator on the proposed legislation.
Gaidam added that;
My colleagues who are opposing the bill have not understood the concept well in view of the fact that the repentant insurgents are those who voluntarily laid their arms and surrendered.
The bill is not meant for those who were captured by the soldiers. The people that would benefit from the proposed agency are those who willingly come out to surrender and who have shown some signs of remorse.
Those who were captured at the battlefront had been taken to courts and there were some being detained by the military. If they are fully rehabilitated, they can be educated.
According to the senator, he believes the bill will go a long way in tackling insurgency but he won’t lobby his colleagues to get the bill passed.
