INSURGENCY: NIGERIA MILITARY PROMISES STRONGER SYNERGIES, DENIES RECRUITING EX-INSURGENTS INTO FORCE
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor has said the Armed Forces of Nigeria, under his watch shall keep forging stronger synergies among the Services and other Security Agencies in order to re-energise its counter-insurgency operations in the North East as well as other regions.
The CDS made this submission while declaring open the Fourth Edition of Operation Safe Corridor Stakeholders’ meeting held at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Wedneday.
Gen Irabor was represented by the Chief of Defence Training and Operations, Major General Adeyemi Yekini. He stated that the Armed Forces have been involved in the counter-insurgency operations for more than Ten years.
He noted that the Armed Forces had since evolved with the formation of a Theatre Command, a Maritime Task Force as well as an Air Task Force components as strategies and tactics adopted to sufficiently weaken the capacities of the bandits and terrorists.
He also said the Armed Forces of Nigeria is now more than ever committed to forging stronger synergies within the Services and other Security Agencies.
According to him, these efforts are aimed at combating what he described as the "Armorphous nature of the threat."
Gen Irabor stated that Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC) is a non-kinetic operation established in 2015 with the mandate of de-radicalizating, rehabilitating and re-integrating willing and repentant low profile ex-members of the insurgent group back to society. He said the model has been replicated in all the Lake Chad Basin countries.
He however, debunked allegations making the rounds that the over 1,000 repented ex-insurgents are being recruited to the Nigerian military through the backdoor.
OPSC Co-ordinator, Brigadier General Joseph Maina in his welcome address said the stakeholders’ meeting is to "Fashion out modalities for the smooth transfer of 559 low risked repentant ex-members of the insurgents group who are currently undergoing the DRR programme to their State Governments."
Brigadier Maina also said recommendations on the resettlement packages for the repentant insurgents as well as other send forth modalities would be deliberated at the forum.
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