The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah, on Friday in Kaduna denied the purported plan to enlist 10,000 ex- Niger Delta militants and ex-service men to boost the fight against insurgency in the north-eastern part of the country.

The pan-northern socio-political organisation, the Arewa Consultative Forum, had on Thursday warned the authorities of the Nigerian Army against enlisting the ex-militants, who had benefitted from the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s amnesty programme under any guise to fight the Boko Haram insurgents in some parts of the North.


The Forum, through its National Publicity Secretary, Muhammad Ibrahim, had on Thursday in Kaduna, noted that it had it on good authority that there were plans to recall 10,000 retired soldiers into the Nigerian Army to fight the terrorists.

The forum described the move as a welcome development but cautioned that the authorities should scrutinise those that would be recalled.

The ACF had said, “It has been brought to the knowledge of Arewa Consultative Forum that the Federal Government has authorised the reinstatement of 10,000 retired soldiers into the Nigeria Army. This, in the wisdom of government, is to boost the strength of the military to confront insurgency that has engulfed the country.”

However, the COAS shortly after the inauguration of the Radio Diagnosis Centre of the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna, on Friday, asked Nigerians to discard such rumour, noting that the Nigerian military had the full capacity to root out the terrorists.

The Army boss, who refused to elaborate, simply said, “It is not true. It is a blatant lie.”