The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Lucky Irabor, has stated that no terrorist has ever been recruited into the armed forces or other services.
He made this known following fears among some Nigerians that some murderous and destructive members of the Boko Haram terrorist group, who are said to be repentant, may have found their way into the military and paramilitary services.
“There have been concerns that Operation Safe Corridor graduates are being recruited by the military and paramilitary agencies,” the CDS said at the opening ceremony of the Operation Safe Corridor Stakeholders Meeting to work out modalities for transferring 559 “Rehabilitated Clients” to their state government authorities.
“I wish to refute this claim and inform Nigerians that none of the over 1,000 rehabilitated Nigerians from OPSC DRR have been or will ever be recruited into the Nigerian Military or sister security services due to severe measures in place to prevent such recruiting.”
“The program has so far graduated over 1,000 clients, including 16 foreign nationals, who have been effectively reintegrated by their national and state governments,” said Gen Irabor, who was represented by Major Gen Mutiu Adeyemi Yekini, the Chief of Defence Training and Operations.
“A total of 559 new clients are currently enrolled in the DRR Program at the Gombe State DRR Camp.
“Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC) is a peacebuilding endeavor, and its important functions are carried out by appropriate MDAS with the necessary experience,” the CDS added, emphasizing that “OPSC is not a solely military operation, as some have suggested.”
“The military and other security and law enforcement agencies are involved to the point where they are establishing an enabling atmosphere and providing leadership for the DRR Program to operate effectively.
“This is yet another session,” he said, “and my belief is that all difficulties pertaining to the effective transfer and eventual reintegration of the 559 clients currently undergoing De-radicalization/Rehabilitation will be resolved.”
“As you are all aware, the Nigerian Armed Forces have been engaged in this counterinsurgency operation for more than a decade, and our approaches, techniques, procedures, strategies, and tactics have all evolved to effectively combat the amorphous nature of the threat.”
“At first, the response was a single-service operation involving just formations and units from Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe States.
