Dikwa not yet safe for IDPs’ return — Military

The military says Dikwa, a town in the central part of Borno State, is not yet safe for displaced persons to return.

Coordinator, Operation Safe Corridor, Maj.-Gen. Bamidele Shafa, said this in Abuja on Monday at the Northeast Symposium on Reconciliation, Resettlement and Reintegration organised by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.

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“We all understand that Dikwa is a hot spot now, and it’d be dangerous to return these boys back into Dikwa.

“And that’s why the military commander on the camp, in conjunction with the Ministry of Women of Affairs, returned these boys back into Sokari camp until such a time that the situation will be conducive enough for them to return. They were not rejected,” he said.

Shafa also denied that the military re-integrated deradicalized terrorists into society.

“I need to clarify something. Operation Safe Corridor does not re-integrate. I want to say that again, Operation Safe Corridor does not re-integrate.

“We de-radicalise, rehabilitate by applying the various therapies that have been put together by the ministries, departments and agencies, experts from them, with the collaboration and supervision of our international partners.

“I must say it here that the government and people of Borno State have been up and doing, in seeing to successful re-integration of their clients, apart from the last batch that was taking to Dikwa.

The Country Manager of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Lewis Ojumu, told journalists that the organisations were keen to see the end of terrorism in Nigeria.