Politician Femi Fani-Kayode has berated the Nigerian government’s handling of terrorists. He spoke in the wake of the assassination of al-Queda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri by American forces.

“In Nigeria we do not kill terrorists: we beg them, pay them, appease them, reward them, bow before them, give them chieftaincy titles and let them break into prison to free their brothers,” Mr Fani-Kayode said in a tweet on Tuesday. “The Americans killed Osama Bin Ladin, AbuBakr Al Baghdadi and now Ayman Al Zawahiri. Kudos!”

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday announced the killing of the Al Qaeda kingpin, saying “one more measure of closure” would’ve been provided to families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks on the United States in 2001.

In 2016, the Muhammadu Buhari administration established “Operation Safe Corridor” with the mandate to deradicalise and rehabilitate repentant Boko Haram fighters in Nigeria. 

Though criticised for this idea, the Buhari regime has continue to “rehabilitate” Boko Haram terrorists who have killed about 350,000 people in the North-East, since they took up arms against the Nigerian state in 2009, according United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report.

Critics say the terrorists and bandits have been emboldened to fester in their criminal activities due to the government’s reluctance to frontally engage them.