The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has strongly rejected claims that repentant terrorists or former Boko Haram fighters are being secretly recruited into the Nigerian military through the back door.
Speaking on Tuesday in Abuja, Brigadier General Yusuf Alli, Coordinator of Operation Safe Corridor, described the reports as completely unfounded.“We are not recruiting any killers into the army, and we can never do that,” he said firmly.
Addressing the ConcernsGen. Alli also dismissed fears that some de-radicalised former insurgents who have been reintegrated into society are now acting as informants for Boko Haram and ISWAP, or working against the military in the
Northeast.He explained that the low-risk individuals in the programme — many of whom were forced or conscripted into terrorism against their will, or who escaped when they had the chance —
have no reason to return to the terrorist groups.“Going back would mean certain death for them,” he said.
The hardcore terrorists see them as government spies who have benefited from the programme and would sell them out.”How the Programme WorksOperation Safe Corridor, launched in 2015–2016 at the peak of the Boko Haram insurgency, is not a military recruitment scheme or a physical camp.
It is a rehabilitation and reintegration programme designed to handle the large number of fighters who surrendered or escaped during military operations.Many of these individuals came from communities like Gwoza, Bama, and Madagali that were overrun by insurgents and were coerced into joining.
Participants go through a strict multi-agency screening process involving the Ministry of Justice and other government and international partners. They are classified into three categories: