The 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maiduguri, on Saturday handed over 125 suspected Boko Haram insurgents to the Borno Government after they had been cleared of belonging to the sect. This brings to 167 the suspects the army had released in the last 48 hours.
On Thursday, the military similarly released 42 suspects from its cells to Governor Kashim Shettima.
Three of those released were from Burkina Faso, Chad and Cameroon. They were given $1,000 each by the military and the state government.
Col. Sani Usman, the spokesman of the division, handed over the batch of 125 suspects to Gov. Kashim Shettima at the Government House in Maiduguri.
Usman said that the suspects were arrested in Biu, headquarters of Biu Local Government Area of Borno, on 23 September.
“Following bombardment on suspected insurgents hide out in September, some of the insurgents decided to flee to other parts of the country to either cause havoc or hide themselves.
“The military intercepted them and 254 suspects were arrested in some trucks in Biu. Out of those arrested, 125 were found to be clean after investigation.”
He said that the military decided to free them after realising that they were innocent.
” We decided to hand them over to Shettima after being directed by the Army Headquarters in Abuja.