Coup plotters planned to recruit repentant Boko Haram fighters — documents reveal

The documents from the alleged coup plot against President Tinubu are now out and what they contain is deeply troubling. Over 7,400 pages of evidence show that the plotters, led by Nigerian Army Colonel Mohammed Ma'aji, planned to recruit repentant Boko Haram fighters and members of the Civilian Joint Task Force to support their operation. This is not a small matter — we are talking about people who once took up arms against the state being brought into a plot to overthrow the government.

According to the documents obtained by Premium Times, it was Major Jamilu Ilyasu who first suggested using repentant Boko Haram fighters who are already carrying weapons as part of military operations in the North-east. Colonel Ma'aji admitted in his statement that before this discussion, he did not even know that repentant Boko Haram members were involved in military operations. He also said that Major Ilyasu claimed to have Boko Haram technicians who could make IEDs, though Ma'aji said he rejected that idea.

Now here is the question nobody is asking — how did repentant Boko Haram fighters with their weapons end up embedded in our military operations in the first place? The Borno Model DDRR programme was meant to rehabilitate them, not turn them into hybrid forces fighting alongside our soldiers. And now we see that this same network was almost weaponised for a coup. Who is watching these people? Who authorised their integration into military operations? These are questions the National Assembly needs to answer, not just the military court trying these officers.