ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters has come out forcefully to shut down growing claims that repentant terrorists are quietly finding their way into the country’s military, declaring in clear terms: “We are not recruiting any killers into the army, and we can never do that.”
The strong rebuttal, delivered in Abuja on Tuesday, comes amid rising public anxiety and suspicion over the federal government’s deradicalisation programme and fears of possible security loopholes.
Speaking on behalf of the military, Brigadier General Yusuf Alli, Coordinator of Operation Safe Corridor, dismissed the allegations as baseless and misleading, insisting that the Nigerian Armed Forces remain guided by strict recruitment standards that leave no room for individuals with criminal records.
“Once you have any criminal record, you cannot join the military or any security agency,” he said.
The military also pushed back against another troubling narrative that rehabilitated ex-insurgents are secretly working as informants for Boko Haram or ISWAP, undermining operations in the North-East.
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According to Alli, such fears are not only unfounded but also illogical.
“There is no way the repentant terrorists, who are low-risk terrorists, who were conscripted, forced to join the Boko Haram insurgency against their will, and many who escaped from the terrorists’ dens when the opportunity came, can go back to the terrorists’ group,” he said.
“They will be killed. The high-risk terrorists believe they are now government spies who have benefitted and will sell them out.”
At the heart of the controversy is Operation Safe Corridor, a programme launched at the peak of insurgency between 2015 and 2016 to manage the growing number of fighters surrendering to Nigerian troops.
But the military is drawing a sharp line: the initiative is not a recruitment pipeline it is a rehabilitation pathway.
“The military’s message is clear: Operation Safe Corridor is about rehabilitation, not recruitment, and its purpose is to prevent a return to violence,” Alli stressed.
Under the programme, surrendered individuals undergo a rigorous multi-agency screening process involving the Ministry of Justice and other stakeholders. They are categorised into low-risk, medium-risk, and high-risk groups.
Only those classified as low-risk individuals deemed to have been coerced into insurgency and with no prosecutable offences are admitted for rehabilitation.
“Only the low-risk group is admitted into Operation Safe Corridor for rehabilitation these are individuals the justice system has determined have no case to answer,” he explained.
Participants receive deradicalisation support, trauma counselling, and vocational training ranging from tailoring and carpentry to farming, aimed at helping them reintegrate into society as productive civilians.
Many, the military noted, arrive deeply traumatised and struggling with drug dependency after years in insurgent camps.
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Crucially, the Defence Headquarters maintained that the programme does not replace justice.
“Hardcore terrorists captured during operations are prosecuted and, if convicted, imprisoned,” Alli added.
The military described the approach as a “dual-track system” justice for offenders, rehabilitation for victims.
The latest clarification appears aimed at restoring public confidence in Nigeria’s counter-insurgency strategy, especially as misinformation continues to shape perceptions of security operations in the North-East.
For the military, however, the message is blunt and non-negotiable: rehabilitation is not recruitment and the barracks is not open to terrorists, repentant or otherwise.