Ex-Boko Haram members cannot be recruited into military – General

Friday, February 21, 2020 7:44 am

(FILE PHOTO) Ex Boko Haram members on the way to being airlifted to venue of DDR in Gombe

Maj.-Gen Bamidele Shafa, the Coordinator, Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC), says former members of “Boko Haram” insurgent groups that had been de-radicalised cannot be recruited into the Nigerian military.

Speaking to journalists after a visit to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development on Thursday, Shafa said this was because the former members of insurgent group cannot meet a key criteria for enrollment.

The criteria, according to him, was that a recruit must not have been involved in any form of crime.

Shafa added that as a professional body, the military adheres strictly to rules and regulations governing its activities, including enlistment.

“None of the 280 boys that graduated from the OPSC is recruited into the Nigerian military.

“We have our criteria for recruitment. To be recruited, you must be a Nigerian, must not have been convicted of any offence, and must not have been a members of any proscribed organisation.

“So, considering the criteria, none of these boys has been recruited into the military.

“OPSC just finished its follow-up into the communities and these boys are doing very well. None of them is in the military.

“So, I want to assure Nigerians that none of these boys has been recruited and I am not sure any one of them will be recruited in the future,” he stressed.