The Presidency has described as fake, the news that some repentant Boko Haram terrorists have been absorbed into the military.
The Presidency said the clarification became necessary following the development whereby some religious leaders and legislators had joined the supply chain of fake news.
The denial was made on Wednesday in a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu.
The statement reads in part: “Now that groups with hitherto proven bona fides, some religious leaders and a few in the legislature have joined the supply chain of fake news, it important that we step in to clear the false reports that the administration is absorbing repentant Boko Haram terrorists into the military.
“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 Presidency said it was necessary to reassure the public that the de-radicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration of violent extremists of the Buhari administration code named “Operation Safe Corridor,” followed an established example from countries with similar experiences, and was supported academically and materially by the European Union and the United Nations.
It said the lead agency for the implementation of the programme in Gombe was the International Organization for Migration, a leading inter-government organisation which was represented in Nigeria.
The statement reads further: “It is also important to note that 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.
“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 They must no longer represent a danger to society or to themselves.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.”
