Ask Nigeria Header Logo

The FG transfers terrorists to their states

Photo of author

By Nicole

The FG is set to transfer rehabilitated repentant terrorists to their states.

613 low-risk, rehabilitated terrorists will be given to their state governments by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor, for reintegration into society. The CDS stated at the fifth Stakeholders’ Meeting of Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC), held on Thursday in Abuja, that the OPSC is currently handling the deradicalization and rehabilitation of 613 clients. The CDS was represented at the meeting by Maj.-Gen. Adeyemi Yekini, Chief of Defence Training and Operations. Before the clients were turned over to their state governments, he said, the gathering would in-depth discuss the Deradicalization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DRR) Programme.

Irabor claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari created the OPSC in September 2015 as a platform for willing and repentant militants to give up their weapons and participate in a formal DRR program. Using the skills of over 17 services, ministries, departments, and agencies, the program, he continued, was a multi-agency and humanitarian operation that had the backing of friendly nations and local and international organizations. According to the CDS, the achievements of OPSC have persisted in the area and in the diaspora, piquing the interest of researchers from all over the world.

The receiving state governments should provide necessary support.

He advocated that the recipient state governments should offer the assistance that the ex-combatants need to get through this difficult transitioning period. He expressed confidence that, by coordinating closely with regional and established agencies, the states can use the security tools at their disposal to efficiently track and assess the reintegrated ex-combatants. In order to reduce or totally eliminate instances of recidivism, he also emphasizes how important it is for all parties involved in the reintegration processes to work together.

Continuing on, Irabor claimed that the Armed Forces had severely weakened the terrorist organizations Boko Haram and the Islamic State, confining them to a tiny area of the Sambisa Forest and isolated islands in Lake Chad. According to him, forces have continued to inflict significant casualties on the groups and their leadership through regular and effective air interdictions as well as carefully planned clearance operations on positively identified enemy strongholds. Numerous enemies have surrendered to the armed forces as a result of the pressure and confusion that these ongoing operations are continuing to exert on the enemy.

Some have been taken to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

Major General Joseph Maina, the OPSC coordinator, reported that since the program’s start in 2016, 1,573 customers, including 1,555 Nigerians and 18 foreigners from Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, had been processed satisfactorily. All of the overseas clients, according to Maina, have been returned to their home nations for reintegration. He added that five foreigners from Chad and Niger were included in the 613 customers who were transferred to the DRR camp to begin training on September 8, 2022.

19 of the clients, according to the OPSC coordinator, have been moved to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital neurological centre for specialized psychiatric care. According to Maina, the purpose of the conference was to develop plans for the clients’ orderly transfer to their national and state authorities for reintegration following graduation in February. All stakeholders would be fully informed on OPSC activities in general and the DRR Program in particular at the conclusion of this meeting.

The state would continue to assess the clients even after graduation.

In order to bring clients’ parents together and get communities ready to welcome them following deradicalization, the state has been working with OPSC, according to Mallam Bashiru Ahmad, Secretary to the Government of Adamawa. He explained that they were attending the stakeholders’ conference to consider what could be done to assure the program’s effectiveness and expressed confidence that the effort would produce the desired outcome. Hajiya Zuwaira Gambo, the commissioner for women’s affairs and social development in Borno, stated that the state had received the majority of the remorseful terrorists since the program began. Gambo promised that even after the clients graduated from OPSC in Gombe, the state would still review them to make sure they were prepared for reintegration into their communities.


Related Link

FB: Website

Fact-Checking Tool – Snopes.com


The content on AskNigeria.com is given for general information only and does not constitute a professional opinion, and users should seek their own legal/professional advice. There is data available online that lists details, facts and further information not listed in this post, please complete your own investigation into these matters and reach your own conclusion. AskNigeria.com accepts no responsibility for losses from any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of content contained in this website and/or other websites which may be linked to this website.

Fact Checking Tool - Snopes.com