The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Olufemi Oluyede, has explained why the Nigerian Army initiated deradicalisation and Operation Safe Corridor for terrorists and armed bandits, stating that it is part of the military’s counter-terrorism strategy, news.ng reports.
At a recent public function, Oluyede acknowledged that Nigerians are not comfortable with the idea of deradicalising armed bandits and terrorists who have carried out atrocities such as abductions, ransom collection, the rape of women and girls, and, most importantly, the killing of innocent citizens and the displacement of people from their ancestral communities.
To defend the initiative, the CDS gave the example of the Prodigal Son in the Bible, noting that he was forgiven.
“Talking about Operation Safe Corridor, so many people have asked that question: Why do we need to rehabilitate criminals? They all should be killed. Because they kill people. Well, that may make sense.
“But even in the Bible, we heard about the prodigal son. If there had not that window for the man to come back, would he have come back?”
According to him, while it may make sense to capture and kill terrorists, he questioned what benefit that would bring to society.
“So, the point is that these are Nigerians, mostly, and it’s important for us to give them that window to repent if they want, rather than pushing them to the extreme. To say, okay, it’s either we kill you, or you continue with the adventure.
“We are in the National Assembly, because as we speak now, everything about Safe Corridor has been handled by the defence sector. And there’s no part of the budget that says, okay, you should run Operation Safe Corridor… at some point we may come calling for your support,” he added.
