The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has dismissed claims suggesting that repentant terrorists are being secretly recruited into the Nigerian military. The DHQ stated emphatically, “We are not recruiting any killers into the army, and we can never do that.”
Concerns had emerged that some rehabilitated terrorists, who were de-radicalised and reintegrated into society, might be acting as informants for Boko Haram and ISWAP in the Northeast. Brigadier General Yusuf Alli, Coordinator of Operation Safe Corridor, clarified in Abuja on Tuesday that such fears are baseless. He explained that low-risk terrorists—those forced or coerced into joining Boko Haram who later escaped cannot return to terrorist activities, as doing so would likely be fatal given the high-risk members’ suspicion of them as government informants.
Brig Gen Alli stressed that the Nigerian Army maintains strict recruitment standards, automatically disqualifying anyone with a criminal record. Operation Safe Corridor, he noted, is not a military recruitment initiative but a structured programme to manage surrendered insurgents. Launched in 2015–2016 at the height of the insurgency, it primarily serves individuals who voluntarily surrendered or escaped during military operations, many of whom were coerced into terrorist groups following attacks on communities such as Gwoza, Bama, and Madagali.
The programme uses a multi-agency screening process involving the Ministry of Justice and other bodies to classify surrendering individuals into three categories: low-risk (no prosecutable offences), medium-risk (some involvement in terrorist acts), and high-risk (core fighters and commanders). Only the low-risk group is admitted into Operation Safe Corridor for rehabilitation. Participants receive de-radicalisation training, trauma counselling, and vocational skills development in areas such as tailoring, carpentry, and farming to enable successful reintegration into society.
Brig Gen Alli emphasized that Operation Safe Corridor complements, rather than replaces, criminal justice. High-risk individuals are prosecuted and imprisoned if convicted. He reiterated that the programme’s primary goal is rehabilitation and preventing a return to violence, not recruitment into the military. “The military’s message is clear: Operation Safe Corridor exists to reintegrate victims of insurgency, not to enlist former combatants,” he concluded.
