Terrorists' Reintegration Into Society Risky, Ex-soldiers Tell FG

Retired military personnel have cautioned the federal government about its plan to pardon and reintegrate those terrorists who have undergone the government's Operation Safe Corridor deradicalization program. 

Over the course of the OSC, which was started by former president Muhammadu Buhari, over 4,000 former members of Boko Haram have gone through the program. 

For example, in September 2023, Gombe State alone reported that 2,168 former members of Boko Haram had gone through the De-radicalization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration camp located in the Kwami Local Government Area of Gombe State over the previous eight years. 

No fewer than 613 rehabilitated terrorists undergoing de-radicalisation were scheduled to be handed over by the military authorities to their respective state governors.

However, in July 2022, some repentant Boko Haram members, despite renouncing their membership of the terror group, were accused of having contact with their former colleagues, supplying them intelligence.

Reacting on the matter, a retired colonel, Hassan Stan-Labo, stated, “If we have mobilised and brought them (terrorists) out for rehabilitation, it is already too late; there is nothing we can do but to go the whole hog; go through the entire demobilisation, de-radicalisation and rehabilitation.

“However, if I were the commander-in-chief, my instructions would have been: ‘Don’t bring anybody for any damn rehabilitation; you bloody well will pay the price for whatever you have done on the battle front’.

He also asked that proper biometrics should be taken of these guys so they would not find their way into the military.

Another retired military officer, who served in the Nigerian Navy but refused to be named, said it was wrong to assume that terrorists would repent because the government made them go through a programme.

"We are talking of hard criminals who kill innocent people for a living and leave families deserted. They destroy people’s livelihoods and feel nothing. Why will a few months or years programme deradicalise them? What was the government thinking when it said it wants to reintegrate them back into the society to live with the same people whom they rendered homeless? The government needs to have a clear rethink. No terrorist should be treated with kid’s gloves,” the soldier added.