In addition, Boko Haram fighters in the camp are awaiting interrogation by the Nigerian government. There are fighters who voluntarily joined the group, often lured with gifts of money and motorcycles, but were also forced to sign up or brainwashed.
One fighter was Hafiz, who had memorized the entire Quran. But, he said, he never knew how to interpret the words he could read so well.
In his early teens, he heard Boko Haram leaders preach that the whole world had turned to a freer life and that they needed to stand up and fight.
“I completely believed them,” he said, sitting on a carpet, rubbing the sole of his foot repeatedly with stubby fingers. “I trusted him and I agreed with everything he said.”
He killed 17 people, he said, and he did it happily, seeing it as a blessing.
At the time Mr Shekau killed himself, Hafiz began to secretly listen to recordings of sermons preaching a completely different, and peaceful, interpretation by the imams. Distraught, he plotted to surrender.
“I want forgiveness. But I do not know how God will forgive me,” he said.
Another 28-year-old spy said he joined Boko Haram when he was 13 and was part of a group of 400 people who together decided to surrender. Despite admitting to killing at least 10 people with his own hands and causing the deaths of “countless” others through his espionage, he felt he might have a chance of being accepted by the community. .
“Top military officials assured us that we would not be killed,” he said. He said that for the first time he saw an opportunity to lead a normal life.