NO REPENTANT TERRORISTS, BANDITS RECRUITED INTO THE MILITARY — ALI CLEARS THE AIR

Coordinator of Operation Safe Corridor, OPSC Brigadier General Yusuf Ali has put to rest the viral speculation purporting that deradicalized terrorists and bandits are being recruited into the Nigerian Armed Forces.

General Ali made the clarification on Wednesday during a one-day media dialogue with the leadership of OPSC as organized by the Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD in Abuja. He stated that the report of recruiting repented insurgents into the military is “entirely false and has no basis”.

According to General Ali, the “Nigerian security apparatus has a structured process of screening those that are to be recruited into the military”.

 

The OPSC Coordinator also clarified repentant terrorists, who are classified as high-risk are not reintegrated into the society.He said, “First and foremost, they must be cleared by the judiciary.

 

“Aside from the judiciary, security agencies conduct their screenings before they are classified as either low-risk or high-risk individuals”.

 

General Ali further stated that once they are “classified as high risk, they face the normal criminal justice system, tried and sentenced accordingly.There is no military, paramilitary or any security agency recruiting former fighters or surrendered terrorists into the system.

“Recruitment processes are always published in the media. There is also the armed forces art that regulates the procedure for recruiting individuals into the military”.