MAIDUGURI — Fresh controversy has engulfed Nigeria’s counter-insurgency efforts following revelations that at least 40 former Boko Haram insurgents have been shortlisted for the Nigerian Army’s 91st Regular Recruits Intake (RRI 91), fuelling public anger and deep concerns within military circles.
Multiple security sources familiar with the recruitment process disclosed that the candidates are among the 3,740 repentant Boko Haram members previously rehabilitated and reintegrated into society under the Borno State Government’s controversial deradicalisation programme.
The development has triggered unease among serving soldiers and victims of the insurgency, many of whom question the wisdom of admitting former fighters into the nation’s armed forces while thousands of law-abiding youths continue to compete for limited recruitment slots through conventional procedures.
The Nigerian Army’s 2026 recruitment exercise for the 91st Regular Recruits Intake is currently underway, with screening activities having commenced on June 9 in line with established military standards. Applications and preliminary screening for the intake were concluded during the first half of the year.
Military sources revealed that the 40 ex-insurgents, allegedly sponsored by the Borno State Government, underwent medical examinations on Wednesday at the Nigerian Army 7 Division Military Hospital, Maimalari Cantonment, Maiduguri, as part of the requirements for enlistment into the Army.
The move is reportedly aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of the state’s rehabilitation and reintegration initiative, a programme that has remained one of the most divisive aspects of Nigeria’s non-kinetic approach to combating terrorism.
According to soldiers familiar with the matter, authorities in Borno have increasingly attached rehabilitated former fighters to local security structures that support military operations in parts of the state, despite persistent concerns over trust and operational security.
“The government wants to prove that the reintegration programme is working, so some of these repentant Boko Haram members are being attached to security groups that work with troops in operations,” a military source said.
The ex-combatants are said to have undergone vocational training, religious and behavioural reorientation, counselling, and skills acquisition programmes before being returned to their communities under the state’s reintegration framework.
However, the initiative continues to divide public opinion. Critics argue that former insurgents cannot be completely trusted regardless of rehabilitation efforts, warning that inadequate safeguards could expose communities and security agencies to renewed extremist threats or intelligence leaks.
Questions have also been raised over how the former fighters met the strict requirements ordinarily imposed on prospective recruits, including educational qualifications, birth records, certificates of origin, and letters of attestation from recognised authorities.
Many military personnel remain deeply sceptical about the sincerity of some rehabilitated insurgents, insisting that years of brutal conflict and ideological indoctrination cannot be erased through short-term rehabilitation programmes alone.
Efforts to obtain an official reaction from the Nigerian Army were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report. Calls and messages sent to the Director of Army Public Relations, Colonel Appolonia Anele, had yet to receive a response.
The controversy once again underscores the difficult balance between rehabilitation and justice in a region that has endured more than a decade of bloodshed, displacement, and destruction caused by Boko Haram and other extremist groups operating across Nigeria’s North-East.