Mr. Ali Ndume, a Senator from Borno state has opposed the Boko Haram Bill, describing it as an attempt to encourage others to join the insurgency, cause havoc and repent.
Ndume made his position about the bill known in his interview with Channels Television on Friday.
The lawmaker, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, disclosed that his colleagues know he cannot support such a bill.
“I personally disagree with that. The war is not over and some criminals that have been killing people you say that you are doing Operation Safe Corridor for them” Ndume said.
“I am completely against that idea. They know my position on that, you can’t do that” the lawmaker added.
“It is when you win the war and some people surrender that you think about something like that.”
Ndume pointed out that allowing for the establishment of Boko Haram agency, will simply create room for some criminals to join the insurgency, kill a lot of Nigerians and be pampered at the end, a situation he said is unacceptable.
A bill sponsored by Mr. Ibrahim Gaidam, a Senator from Yobe, representing Yobe East, seeking to establish an agency for the rehabilitation of Boko Haram suspects has passed first reading on the floor of the senate.
The bill titled “National Agency for the Education, Rehabilitation, De-radicalisation, and Integration of repentant insurgents in Nigeria” is currently receiving attention from the federal lawmakers.
The bill was introduced on the floor on Thursday.
Although some senators rejected the bill, causing rowdiness on the floor, Mr. Ovie Omo-Agege, the deputy senate president, approved the bill for first reading.
This is even as the government has been criticized for releasing over 1, 400 Boko Haram members, while the military officers fighting the insurgency and Christian Association of Nigerian (CAN) say the idea of rehabilitating repent insurgents troubles the mind and unacceptable.