Army begins de-radicalisation of 53 ex-Boko Haram members

Major-General Attahiru Ibrahim, the Theater Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maiduguri, on Saturday, transferred 53 Boko Haram insurgents who had surrendered to the military rehabilitation centre for de-radicalisation process.

Ibrahim disclosed this at the handing over of the former insurgents to the Commander, Operation Safe Corridor, in Maiduguri.

“We have started the Initial process of identifying who they are and we are handing them over to Operation Safe Corridor. They will move to a safe place where the de-radicalisaWtion process takes place for possible re-integration into the society,” he said.

The commander added that 53 out of the 70 insurgents that recently surrendered to the military had been re-validated and transferred.

Speaking, Major-General Bamidele Shafa, the coordinator, Operation Safe Corridor, said that the programme was designed to facilitate surrendering of the insurgents.

“It is a Federal Government’s initiative aimed at de-radicalisation, rehabilitation and re-integration of willing and surrendered Boko Haram members to the society. It is a multinational and multi-agency set up. We have a camp within the theater where they will go through a well planned programme that would make them better citizens,’’ he stressed.

According to him, the rehabilitation programme will be run for three months.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 70 insurgents had so far surrendered to the military in the Sambisa axis, while 700 others had indicated interest to surrender.