Nigerian Army dismisses alleged reports on release of Boko Haram fighters in Borno

▪︎Says released persons are not ex-Boko Haram fighters

The Nigerian Army (NA) has dismissed the alleged report that it had handed over 1009 ex-Boko Haram fighters to Borno State government.

In a statement, Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, said the report which also alleged that the event was shrouded in secrecy was obviously one of those attempts to dampen troops’ morale and denigrate the Nigerian Army, riding on the back of unsubstantiated reports and misinformation.

He said the Nigerian Army would not join issues with the masterminds of this false narrative, but
Nwachukwu said it was an indisputable fact that the ongoing Counter Terrorism Counter Insurgency Operations (CTCOIN) in the North East had led to the arrest of several terrorism/insurgency suspects.

He said these suspects had been held in custody while undergoing profiling and further investigations by experts from the Joint Investigation Centre (JIC) and those who were found culpable were usually handed over to prosecuting agencies accordingly, while those who were not implicated in terrorism and insurgency were cleared and released to the state government for rehabilitation before they were reintegrated into the society.

The Army spokesperson said the cleared suspects were therefore not ex-Boko Haram fighters, as peddled in the said online report and as the masterminds would want to impress on the public.

He said a total of 1009 cleared suspects, not ex fighters, were released after this rigorous process on Wednesday 14 July 2021.

Nwachukwu said it was also necessary to categorically state that the handing over of the cleared suspects was not shrouded in secrecy as it was witnessed by United Nations Humanitarian and government agencies, in tandem with global best practices.

He urged the general public to discountenance the misinformation, as it was evidently a manipulation and distortion of the truth and reality of the event.