THE Commander of the Operation Hadin Kai (OHK) of the Nigerian Army, Major Gen. Chris Musa, has disclosed that more than 51,000 repentant fighters of the Boko Haram terrorist group and their families have surrendered to troops serving in various theatres of operation in the North-East region in the first three months of 2022.
Gen. Musa who made the assertion in Abuja on Tuesday while briefing defence correspondents on the progress of the war against insurgency in the North-East, said the terrorists fighters decided to surrender to the military due to the incessant bombardment of their hideouts and the killings of their commanders which has led to a collapse of their structure in various locations.
Gen. Musa also assured residents in the North-East that they have nothing to fear as the military will continue to ensure their protection from terrorists and bandits.
“Since the beginning of this year, more than 51,000 Boko Haram terrorists and their family members have surrendered to the Nigerian Army in different theatres of operations in the North-East.
“Some of them are currently in our custody awaiting profiling.
“I want to commend the residents of the North-East for assisting our troops in fighting the terrorists. We do get information from residents as quickly as things are happening, but sometimes, the challenge might probably be the way to communicate because we do not have network everywhere; but as soon as they get to where they can send messages across to us, they let us know.
“That has assisted us greatly in subduing the insurgents to such an extent that we have so much peace. We have over 51,000 insurgents and their family members that have surrendered to us.
“Normally there will be some concerns and I don’t blame the public for that, but I just want to assure them that we are professionals and we have done this before … in other countries where we had issues of disarmament.
“What goes on here now is that as soon as any of them is willing to surrender, he reports straight to the closest military location. The commander on the ground has his troops ready to disarm them, take over their arms, search them and profile them.
“Then the state government provides buses to move them to the camps already provided. The state government takes care of the management and administration, what we do is ensure that the perimeter is secure.
“So, we want to assure members of the communities that they are well secured and that they (repentant terrorists) will not pose any threat to anybody,” the OHK Commander added.
