De-radicalisation camps where civilians are forced into B’Haram rehab

In this report, focusing on participants of Operation Safe Corridor, Nigeria’s deradicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration programme for repentant terrorists, SOLOMON ODENIYI writes that several individuals among those enrolled claim they were wrongly arrested during security operations and are now undergoing the same rehabilitation and reintegration process alongside convicted or suspected insurgents In 2013, Baba Garba was only 18 when soldiers stormed his community of Warabe in Borno State. The young man said that morning marked the beginning of a life he never imagined for himself. At the time, Boko Haram attacks had become a constant and grim reality in parts of the state. But Garba said he never expected that living in a community frequently targeted by insurgents would eventually place him in the path of a sweeping military crackdown. He recalled being at home when military vehicles suddenly rolled into the community, throwing residents into panic as soldiers began rounding up young men. According to him, he was picked up alongside several others. “We were at home in Warabe when the attack happened. The Army came and took us to Giwa Barracks. We spent four days there before they moved us to Kainji, where I stayed for 11 years. I have now spent two years here in the camp. It has been 13 years since I left home,” he recounted amid tears. Now 31, Garba says 13 years of his life have been lost since the day he was whisked away from his home over allegations he insists he knew nothing about. When our correspondent visited the Malam Sidi rehabilitation camp in Gombe ahead of the graduation of over 700 repentant insurgents, Garba was among the participants preparing for reintegration into society under Operation Safe Corridor, Nigeria’s deradicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration programme for former insurgents. Established in 2016, the initiative is a non-kinetic counter-insurgency strategy designed to rehabilitate and reintegrate surrendered members of Boko Haram and other extremist groups. It combines psychological counselling, religious reorientation, vocational training, and structured re-education aimed at transforming former combatants into productive members of society. Inside the camp, Garba now spends his days learning vocational skills and attending rehabilitation sessions, a stark contrast to the years he says he spent moving through various detention facilities after his arrest. Inside Operation Safe Corridor Documents reviewed by Sunday PUNCH show that individuals admitted into Operation Safe Corridor undergo a structured dera