No Repentant Boko Haram Member Will Join Nigeria's Military - Garba Shehu

After criticisms against the re-integration of repentant Boko Haram fighters, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has stated that although the recently-graduated repentant fighters have been de-radicalised, the Federal Government has no plans to absorb them into the army.

Residents of Borno State, a northeastern state plagued with incessant attacks from members of the insurgent group, had kicked against the plan to rehabilitate and re-integrate these repentant militants into the society.

Shehu, in a statement, said that the de-radicalisation programme instituted by the Federal Government has no "place for hard-boiled, ideologically hardened terrorists."

He also added that the recently graduated 601 "former Boko Haram members" are the fourth set of graduates of the programme, and that the rehabilitation of the radicalists is in line with an "established example from countries with similar experiences."

Shehu said, “This programme does not have a place for hard-boiled, ideologically hardened terrorists. It only admits, after careful scrutiny, repentant fighters that were captured and forced to bear arms in the first instance, and there are many who have been drafted by force.

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“At the point of their graduation, a determination is made that the former combatants have repented and are better citizens, imbued with genuine nationalism. They must no longer represent a danger to society or to themselves.

“Where they are certified as such, communities have the duty of accepting them. Unless they want them to take up arms and resume terrorism from which they have repented, community leaders must work with the relevant agencies to end their rejection.

“The Buhari administration is a responsible one and is conscious of its duty to the state and society, and to the victims of terror as well as to those who inflicted these pains and losses on our people.

“It is important for the public to know that nobody has ever been absorbed into the military from the de-radicalized Boko Haram and there is no such plan for their absorption.

“None of the 601 former Boko Haram members who voluntarily laid down their arms, and have recently graduated from the Federal Government’s de-radicalization and rehabilitation programme, is going into the military.

“This is the fourth such graduation of repentant Boko Haram fighters and not one of such graduates has been absorbed into the military.

“The public needs to be reassured that the de-radicalization, rehabilitation and reintegration of violent extremists of the Buhari administration code named “Operation Safe Corridor,” follows an established example from countries with similar experiences, and is supported academically and materially by the European Union and the United Nations.

“The lead agency for the implementation of the programme in Gombe is the International Organization for Migration, a leading inter-government organization which is represented in Nigeria.”