Former Boko Haram fighters detained by the Nigerian authorities who have previously surrendered voluntarily are protesting the length of their detention.
The protesting ex-fighters are being held in the Maiduguri transit camp, located within the city limits. According to sources, this is the fourth time the ex-fighters have demonstrated against their lengthy detention.
Since the death of a terrorist commander, Abubakar Shekau, former combatants, their wives, and children have come out of the forest and surrendered to the government, who have held them in separate camps inside Maiduguri after profiling them.
According to a source among the security forces patrolling the camp, the ex-fighters asked that the government either release them into society or find a way to engage them. They are claimed to be frustrated, having been sitting idle for months in the camp.
Former Boko Haram militants said they had been held captive at the camp for four months without any resolve. They said they had been separated from their wives, some of whom had three or four.
Some former terrorists held in different camps inside the town, according to the same source, are already fleeing into society without the approval of authorities.
However, Hajiya Zuwaira Gambo, the Borno State Commissioner for Women Affairs, dismissed the account, claiming that no demonstrations had ever happened at the transit camp.
