According to a report by Arise News, on Friday May 29, 2026, Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Retired General Christopher Musa, has shed light on the recruitment patterns of insurgent networks across the country, revealing that a significant portion of individuals who join terrorist groups do so out of deliberate deception and economic desperation rather than deep-seated ideological conviction.
General Musa explained that extremist leaders systematically target vulnerable citizens, capitalizing on systemic poverty and religious manipulation to swelling their tactical ranks.
“Some of the terrorists were deceived into thinking that they were fighting for God. Some of them were deceived because they were poor and felt that was the only way they could have something, because those guys had money to give them. They enticed them with money and promised them heaven and earth, and so they joined. So when we treat those ones and give them skills, they are rehabilitated back into the community,” Musa stated.
The Defence Minister reported that the federal government’s ongoing non-kinetic approach which includes structured deradicalization, vocational skill acquisition, and community reintegration is yielding highly encouraging results.
According to Musa, extensive tracking and post-rehabilitation monitoring have shown that none of the individuals successfully reintegrated into their respective communities have relapsed into banditry, criminal syndicates, or terrorist activities.
He credited the rigorous psychological evaluation and economic empowerment components of the rehabilitation framework for keeping the former fighters on a peaceful path.
However, the Defence Minister drew a sharp, uncompromising line between low-level actors who were coerced, misled, or driven by hunger, and the hardened masterminds of terror.
Musa made it clear that the military and judicial systems are not offering a blanket amnesty to high-profile ideologues or intentional killers.
He emphasized that the primary perpetrators and strategic commanders are kept entirely isolated from the rehabilitation streams, remaining in maximum-security custody to face the full weight of the legal system under a completely separate, punitive counter-terrorism framework.