Brief – At least 300 repentant insurgents – including their wives and children – who were returned to Dikwa on March 25, having undergone 11 months of rehabilitation, still do not have proper accommodation, food, clean water and other basic necessities.

The repentant insurgents, former members of the Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’way Wa’l-Jihād (JAS), better known as Boko Haram, said they were pleased they would now be reintegrated into society.

Goni Kache said: “We spent 11 months in the Hajj rehabilitation camp in Maiduguri and then authorities brought us to Dikwa. There are at least 300 of us but we don’t have a place to stay, we sleep on mats and there is not enough food or clean water.

“The former fighters who have relatives in Dikwa have gone to stay with them. But the rest of us – and there are many – are staying in a skills acquisition centre built by a humanitarian aid organisation.”

The returnees are pleading with authorities to provide them with a proper place to stay and basic necessities.

AISHA SD JAMAL