Maj.-Gen. Bamidede Ashafa, the National Coordinator of Operation Safe Corridor, has said that the programme has concluded the deradicalisation of the first batch of 95 surrendered Boko Haram combatants.

Ashafa made the development known in Yola on Thursday when he briefed Gov. Mohammed Bindow of Adamawa on the programme.

He said the programme, a multi-agency committee inaugurated in 2015 by the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt.-Gen. Gabriel Olanishakin, had captured the profiles of the combatants.

He said the committee collaborated with National Identity Management Commission and profiled them for future identification.

The coordinator said the combatants were given sound medical diagnosis and their DNA obtained.

Ashafa said while the Nigerian Prison Service was engaged in the deradicalisation process, clerics from the Islamic and Christian faiths were employed to provide religious counselling to help them start a new life.

He said that two of the combatants had indicated interest to live in Adamawa, pointing out that while one hailed from Adamawa, the other was from Borno.

Ashafa appealed to the governor to support the programme, adding that that it would impact positively on the repentant combatants.

Bindow commended the Defence Headquarters for the programme but added that the state government would monitor them as they tried to reintegrate in the community.

President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 initiated Operation Safe Corridor for the rehabilitation, deradicalisation and the reintegration of repentant Boko Haram combatants.

The operation which has its temporary camp in Gombe has 13 agencies mobilised for the task.

Some of the agencies are National Emergency Management Agency, National Orientation Agency, Office of the Inspector-General of Police, Department of State Services, offices of the Chief of Army, Navy and Air Force. (NAN)

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