Bukky Abioye
The Presidency has debunked reports that former Boko Haram fighters are being converted into the Armed Forces, describing the news as fake.
There have been series of reports claiming former Boko Haram terrorists who had gone through the deradicalization and reintegration program of the Federal Government are being absorbed into the Armed Forces, raising lots of anger and public rancor recently.
However, in a statement on Wednesday night by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the Presidency warned the public, opinion leaders, including federal lawmakers to be wary of unfounded reports.
” None of the 601 ex- Boko Haram members who voluntarily laid down their arms, and have recently graduated from the Federal Government’s deradicalization and rehabilitation program, is going into the military as this is the fourth of such graduation”.
” The public needs to be reassured that the deradicalization, rehabilitation and reintegration of violent extremists of the Buhari’s administration code-named ” Operation Safe Corridor” follows an established example from countries with similar experience and is supported academically and materially by the European Union and the United Nations.
” It is important to note that the program only takes after careful scrutiny, repentant fighters who were captured and forced to hear arms in the first instance and not hard-boiled, ideologically hardened terrorists.
” The Buhari administration is a responsible one and is conscious of its duty to the state and society, and to victims of terror as well as to those who inflicted these pains and losses on our people”. The statement reads.
