Former Chief of Defence Staff General Lucky Irabor has dismissed claims that repentant Boko Haram members were recruited into the Nigerian military, describing the allegation as false and troubling.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Irabor said the rumour had long been a “burden” to him, insisting there was no basis for such claims.
He explained that his roles as Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Force Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force, Chief of Defence Training and Operations, and later Chief of Defence Staff gave him a clear understanding of the system, making the allegation impossible.
Irabor clarified that the Operation Safe Corridor programme, often cited by critics, is designed for the rehabilitation of low-risk individuals who were either conscripted or inadvertently drawn into terrorist activities. According to him, such individuals are profiled, deradicalised, trained in skills, and reintegrated into society—similar to correctional processes—not absorbed into the armed forces.
He emphasised that the Nigerian military operates strict recruitment procedures, including biometric data checks and scrutiny by recruitment officers across the states. He added that verification by local government authorities is also required before any individual can be enlisted.
Irabor maintained that these structures make it “almost impossible” for anyone processed under Operation Safe Corridor, or any former insurgent, to gain entry into the military.
He said: “Well, I’m glad that you’ve mentioned this. It has always been a burden for me, where we got this information from. How can they be? That doesn’t exist.
“Before I became CDS, I was theater commander, Operation Lafia Dole. From there I become Force Commander, Multinational Task Force. When I left, I became the Chief of Defense Training and Operations. I was overseeing all that, and I got appointed as a CDS, which I spent two and a half years in that post. How could it be? Where people got that impression from I cannot tell.
“Now, we have Operation Safe Corridor, which are supported, which I will support today, and I will continue to support even tomorrow. What does it entail?
“It’s looking at those that have been arrested, engaged in the act of, you know, terrorism and banditry, that are profiled. And so the low risk amongst them, meaning that those who were conscripted into that criminal enterprise, and those perhaps, who you know got themselves caught up in the milieu of the criminality are now separated and then sent to the camp where they are de-radicalised over a period.
“It’s like somebody also in a correctional facility where, you know, certain teachings are brought to them, and then some skills also given to them before allowing them to be reintegrated into society.
“On what grounds were then people talking about this? How can they find their way into the military when, first and foremost, their biometrics were taken, the records of them. And not only were the biometrics taken, the there is numberd on those services, especially, let me speak for the military, Army, Navy and Air Force system, when they are recruiting, you have recruitment officers in every of the states who go with those data, and they are meant to scrutinize them so structurally within the military.
“It’s almost impossible. It is impossible for them to find their way into the military. And besides, you can’t come into the military if those from your local government have not actually sanctioned you”.