Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, Special Counsel to the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has cautioned Nigerian authorities against what he described as a “soft approach” to terrorism, insisting that extremists cannot be truly reformed.
He made the remarks while reacting to the worsening security situation in Mali, where jihadist groups have intensified attacks, including a coordinated assault that reportedly led to the death of the country’s Defence Minister, General Sadio Camara.
The Malian official was said to have died after sustaining injuries in an attack on his residence in Kati, near Bamako, which involved a suicide car bomb and other coordinated strikes on military targets.
In a post shared on his X handle on Sunday, Ejimakor drew a connection between Mali’s security crisis and broader counterterrorism strategies in West Africa, warning that leniency towards armed extremists often leads to greater instability.
“As terrorists have overrun northern Mali and are poised to capture its capital, it proves that soft-pedalling on terror, as Mali was previously doing, always backfires,” he wrote.
He went further to challenge Nigeria’s rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for surrendered insurgents, particularly former Boko Haram fighters who have passed through deradicalisation initiatives under the military’s Operation Safe Corridor.
“Nigerian authorities should know that there’s no such thing as a ‘repentant’ terrorist. Mali is a stark example,” he added.
Ejimakor’s comments tap into an ongoing debate in Nigeria over how best to handle surrendered militants. While the government maintains that reintegration is part of a broader strategy to weaken insurgency in the North-East, critics argue that it poses long-term security risks.
The situation in Mali, where armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and other networks have expanded their influence across parts of the Sahel, has raised fresh concerns about regional security and the effectiveness of counterterrorism strategies in West Africa.
Ejimakor’s statement adds to growing public discourse on whether Nigeria’s current approach strikes the right balance between justice, security, and reconciliation in the fight against insurgency.
