The Nigerian Army says it will not enlist repentant Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists because many Nigerian youths are eager to join the army.

Army spokesman Onyema Nwachukwu said this in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement mentioned that an online video circulated on social media by “one Young Elder and produced by Anthony Jay” attempted to relate the collapse of the Afghan military to the ongoing surrender by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists in Nigeria.

According to him, the Young Elder, in a comic way, tried to express worries about the surrendered terrorists.

“While it is understood that the situation in Afghanistan calls for concerns by any right-thinking person or organisation, the manner in which the comic Young Elder presented it shows his lack of basic knowledge on the subject he hurriedly delved into,” said the army statement. “The amateurish production conjured some unfounded and baseless claims that only exist in the figment of their imagination, claiming that surrendered terrorists were going to be absorbed into the Nigerian Army.

The army insisted that it “does not have any repentant terrorist joining its ranks” and had no plan to enlist them.

“There are teeming able-bodied Nigerians that are willing to join the NA to genuinely help in the fight against terrorism and other violent crimes,” it claimed.

The army added that the military was not desperate for prospective recruits to “stoop so low to engage the services of former terrorists,” pledging that under the leadership of the Chief of Army Staff, Faruk Yahaya, it will “operate within the dictates of the law.”

“Surrendered terrorists will be received, processed, and passed to the appropriate government agencies,” it stated. “While we recommend that matters related to security be left with those who have the requisite expertise and experience.”

(NAN)