About 603 Boko Haram members who claimed to have repented have been screened and profiled and are undergoing de-radicalization under Operation Safe Corridor are due to pass out in June 2020 before being reintegrated into society. Already, 280 surrendered repentant terrorists have successfully undergone the programme and have been reintegrated into the society. 25 of this number are from Niger and have been repatriated to their country. Speaking on why they decided to surrender, many of the surrendered fighters confessed that the heat from the firepower of the Nigerian military was becoming unbearable. They cited constant air force bombardments in day time and in the night. Also of note was the artillery bombs fired from afar by ground troops to neutralize Boko Haram fighters’ tactics of ambush and catching troops unawares. Some of the former fighters confessed that they had seen the deceit of their commanders who induced them with promises of wives and money. “But when we joined, we found out there were no wives and money was not forthcoming. Rather there were die-hard female BHT members who provided sex and could not be married. So after returning from any expedition, you could have sex at random with any woman”, one of them said. “Also, whenever the BHT commanders sent us, as foot soldiers, to go and attack villages or traders in markets and loot money or other logistics needs’ and we returned, the commanders would corner everything and give us only paltry cash from what we had brought while taking the large chunk.
