The presidency has reacted to speculations that it is planning to enlist newly rehabilitated terrorists into the Nigerian military.
Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, gave the clarification on Wednesday in a statement he made available to newsmen.
He said it had come to the notice of the president that some religious leaders and a few in the legislature had joined the supply chain of fake news.
According to the presidential spokesman, it is important that “we step in to clear the false reports that the administration is absorbing repentant Boko Haram terrorists into the military”.
He added: “It is important for the public to know that nobody has ever been absorbed into the military from the de-radicalised Boko Haram and there is no such plan for their absorption.
“None of the 601 former Boko Haram members who voluntarily laid down their arms, and have recently graduated from the Federal Government’s de-radicalisation and rehabilitation programme, are going into the military.
“This is the fourth such graduation of repentant Boko Haram fighters and not one of such graduates has been absorbed into the military.
“The public needs to be reassured that the de-radicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration of violent extremists of the Buhari administration code named, ‘Operation Safe Corridor,’ follows an established example from countries with similar experiences, and is supported academically and materially by the European Union and the United Nations.
“The lead agency for the implementation of the programme in Gombe is the International Organisation for Migration, a leading inter- government organisation which is represented in Nigeria.”
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