Over 1900 Repentant Boko Haram Terrorists Released Back Into Communities – Nigerian Defence Headquarters

The Nigerian Defence Headquarters, Abuja, has stated that no fewer than 1935 repentant Boko Haram terrorists were released from the Bulumkutu camp in Borno State back into the Nigerian society between 2016 and 2022 after undergoing deradicalisation.

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, made this known in Abuja on Monday when he delivered a lecture titled: “Non-Kinetic Operations and the Nigerian Armed Forces,” at the opening session of a national security course on “Psychological Operations and Strategic Communication (PSYOPS)”organised by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).

The programme was held with the theme, “Winning Hearts and Minds for National Cohesion and Development”.

The CDS, who was represented by Rear Admiral Daupreye Matthew, Director of Training, Defence Headquarters, asserted that the military had not contemplated scrapping the non-kinetic approach as part of the efforts being used to solve insecurity challenges.

He explained that the use of non-kinetic efforts under Operation Safe Corridor had led to the surrender of more than 2,000 Boko Haran members between 2016 and 2017.

According to him, 67 per cent of those who surrendered were of the Abubakar Shekau faction of the insurgents, adding that 1,543 repentant terrorists graduated from Mallam Sidi Camp in Gombe State and 1,935 were released from Bulumkutu camp in Borno between 2016 and 2022.

General Musa noted that from July 2021 to May 4, 2022 alone, no fewer than 51,828 terrorists and their family members surrendered, out of which 13,360 were fighters, stressing that 106,000 terrorists and their family members had so far surrendered in the North East.

The five-day programme was said to have been organised to boost security experts’ understanding of the dynamics of psychological operations and strategic communication.