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Nigerian soldiers battling Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East have accused the Borno State government of issuing a fresh directive compelling them to work alongside ‘repentant’ terrorists who were recently reintegrated into society under the state’s controversial deradicalisation programme.

The development, according to serving military personnel who spoke to SaharaReporters, has triggered unease within frontline formations, with many soldiers expressing fears that the arrangement could expose military operations to renewed sabotage and intelligence leaks.

Sources told the media that some of the former Boko Haram fighters who publicly pledged loyalty to the Nigerian state during recent reintegration exercises have now been mobilised and attached to local security groups that support military operations against insurgents across parts of Borno State.

The soldiers alleged that the move was part of efforts by the state government to justify its rehabilitation and reintegration programme, which has come under criticism from members of the public, including victims of insurgency and some security personnel.

According to the sources, military authorities and troops on the ground remain sceptical about the sincerity of several former insurgents despite undergoing rehabilitation programmes.

“The government wants to prove that the reintegration programme is working, so some of these ‘repentant’ Boko Haram members are being attached to security groups that work with troops in operations,” one soldier told SaharaReporters.

“But many of us are uncomfortable with the arrangement because there have been cases in the past where information leaked and operations were compromised. Trust is a major issue.”

Another source said soldiers have deliberately kept some of the former insurgents at separate locations within military facilities because of fears that they could still maintain links with active terrorist cells operating in the region.

“We don’t trust them completely. There have been too many incidents in the past. That is why they are often given separate accommodation. Yet now there is pressure for us to work closely with them during our missions,” the source said.

“You can see how these Boko Haram fighters have been killing our ogas (commanders). That should tell you there is a leak in information about their movements. Yet the government is asking us to trust these people and work with them. It won’t work,” the source said.

The soldiers argued that instead of compelling troops to collaborate with former Boko Haram fighters, the Nigerian government should focus on providing better equipment, intelligence support and welfare packages for personnel risking their lives in the fight against terrorism.

According to them, the latest directive has generated anxiety among troops who fear that operational details could once again find their way to insurgent groups still active in parts of Borno and neighbouring states.

The concerns come barely two weeks after the Borno State government reintegrated 720 ‘repentant’ insurgents, alongside 992 spouses and 2,050 children, into various communities under its “Borno Model” deradicalisation and rehabilitation programme.

The beneficiaries were among former insurgents who surrendered to security forces and subsequently underwent rehabilitation at the Hajj Camp in Maiduguri before being formally returned to society.

Speaking during the reintegration ceremony, the Special Adviser to Governor Babagana Zulum on Security and member of the state’s Deradicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Committee, retired Brigadier General Abdullahi Ishaq, described the programme as a critical component of Borno’s non-kinetic strategy against insurgency.

He said the initiative, which began in July 2021, was founded on forgiveness, rehabilitation and community acceptance of former insurgents willing to renounce violence.

According to Ishaq, more than 350,000 individuals have reportedly left insurgent camps and surrendered since the programme commenced, while a total of 9,680 persons have been reintegrated through nine batches.

The official maintained that those processed through the programme underwent vocational training, religious and behavioural reorientation, counselling and skills acquisition before being returned to their communities.

However, the programme has remained controversial, with critics questioning whether former insurgents can be fully trusted and whether adequate safeguards exist to prevent them from returning to extremist activities.

The latest concerns raised by soldiers suggest that those reservations persist even among security personnel directly engaged in counter-insurgency operations across the North-East.

Efforts to obtain a reaction from the Nigerian Army were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.

Several calls placed to the Director of Army Public Relations, Colonel Appolonia Anele, went unanswered. A text message seeking the Army’s response to the allegations was also sent to her and successfully delivered, but she had not responded at the time of filing.

Sahara Reporters

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A twin earthquake that was Venezuela’s largest in over a century has killed at least 164 people and destroyed multiple buildings near the capital, where residents searched Thursday for missing relatives.

Venezuela’s strongest earthquake since 1900 sent rescuers and locals clambering in the dark over flattened apartments, hunting for survivors and extracting people from under the ruins.

France, Spain and the US offered to urgently send rescuers after the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said struck areas west of the capital on Wednesday evening.

The toll has climbed quickly, with interim president Delcy Rodriguez reporting at least 164 dead and over 970 hurt and noting the state of La Guaira north of Caracas was hit hard.

“We have nothing, right now we have nothing, not even the strength or the courage to go in there, just imagine,” Larry Rojas, 49, told AFP, standing in front of a collapsed building where his family was trapped in the La Guaira city of Catia La Mar.

The coastal city was without electricity, and many residents spent the night in the streets or searching for their relatives, according to AFP reporters.

The 7.5-magnitude earthquake was Venezuela’s most powerful since October 29, 1900, when a 7.7-magnitude tremor struck offshore.

After Wednesday’s shock, some residential buildings showed large cracks and fallen walls, with dozens of others destroyed, according to AFP reporters.

“There are people alive in there and no-one is coming to save them,” said a woman waiting for news of her daughter, who was buried in a ruined 12-story building.

France said it would send 85 rescuers and Spain pledged 54 army searchers as nations including China, India, Brazil and the United States also offered help.

Washington was “immediately deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday.

Earthquake hits Iranian capital Tehran
The first quake, with an epicenter 21 kilometers (13 miles) west of the coastal town of Moron, occurred at 2204 GMT, USGS said. Within a minute, a 7.5-magnitude quake struck about 45 kilometers away.

“This earthquake was the second event in a doublet. This magnitude 7.5 mainshock was preceded by 39 seconds by a 7.2 foreshock,” USGS said.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello asked people to leave their homes, adding that gas supplies had been cut to several buildings as a precaution.

“We have some damaged structures and we don’t want any kind of accident involving gas to occur,” he said.

The Maiquetia International Airport, located near Caracas, was closed due to “serious damage” to its infrastructure, Rodriguez said, with social media posts showing its severely damaged facilities.

The quakes triggered panic in the capital and drove people into the streets, AFP journalists saw.

“The stairs came away, the whole wall cracked. Things fell from the ceiling. It was horrible,” said 54-year-old bank employee Odalis Escalona.

An AFP journalist saw a 22-story building completely destroyed in the capital’s Altamira neighborhood, where people cried out relatives’ names as volunteers climbed over the rubble.

“We need flashlights,” one of them said.

The tremors struck at a depth of 22 kilometers and 10 kilometers, respectively.

They prompted screams of panic at a shopping center in Caracas, an AFP journalist observed.

“It was unbelievable, I don’t even know how long it lasted,” said shopkeeper Heidi Romero, who was on the top floor when the quake struck.

“We went out through the emergency stairs; that’s how they got us out,” the 42-year-old told AFP.

Many more in the capital exited buildings and waited outside before returning to their offices and homes.

Carmen Guedez, 69, was in the same room as her bedridden sister when she felt the jolt.

“It kept getting stronger,” said the administrator, who lives in a hilly middle-class neighborhood above the capital. “I started to see the windows begin to move and then everything shook.”

She described how she “huddled together” with her sister and a neighbor, adding that “we couldn’t get out. The neighbors are still out on the street.”

The states of Trujillo, Carabobo, Miranda and La Guaira were the hardest hit, according to Cabello.

The quake was felt as far away as the Colombian capital of Bogota, where alarms sounded and some residents evacuated buildings as a precaution.

Freddy Tovar, coordinator of Colombia’s National Seismological Network, said they had received more than 200 reports of tremors nationwide.

“The conditions of this seismic event mean that some aftershocks may occur, which could also be widely felt across Colombian territory,” he said in a video posted on X.

The strongest tremors in earthquake-prone Venezuela’s recent history occurred in the northeast in 1997, killing 73 people, and in Caracas in 1967, when 236 people died.

AFP

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The Federal Government has directed banks and other financial institutions across the country to immediately comply with sanctions against individuals and organisations linked to terrorism financing by freezing their assets and reporting suspicious transactions.

The directive followed recent sanctions imposed by the United States on a Nigerian man, Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad, and three Bureau De Change operators accused of helping move funds for the Islamic State group.

The action formed part of a wider operation targeting terror financing networks operating in Europe, the Middle East and West Africa.

Authorities disclosed that the affected BDC companies are Generation Currency Bureau De Change Limited, Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau De Change Limited and Manhattan Bureau De Change Limited.

The firms were accused of taking part in financial transactions connected to terrorist activities.

Reacting to the development, the Nigerian Sanctions Committee said all financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses must fully obey existing sanctions rules.

The committee directed them to freeze assets linked to sanctioned persons, file reports on suspicious transactions and notify the relevant authorities whenever matches are discovered.

The committee stated that Nigeria would not allow terrorists or those funding them to make use of the country’s financial system.

It added that the action taken by the United States supports measures already introduced by Nigeria and strengthens efforts to block the flow of money to terrorist groups.

The committee also noted that Nigeria had earlier expanded its sanctions list on June 18, 2026, by adding six individuals and one company.

Those listed include Ibrahim Yakubu Ogirima, Adamu Chiroma, Ibrahim Abubakar, Abdullahi Umar Usman, Babangida Muhammed, Adamu Hammajam and Abbal Bako & Sons Bureau De Change Limited.

According to the committee, the sanctions were based on intelligence reports, financial investigations and assessments carried out by different government agencies.

The investigations reportedly found grounds to believe that the affected individuals and entities provided financial support and assistance to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and related terrorist networks.

The committee praised the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Office of the National Security Adviser for their involvement in the sanctions process.

It also commended the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Department of State Services, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit for their roles in disrupting financial channels used by terrorist groups.

It said the agencies had worked together to stop terrorists from accessing funds and resources needed to sustain their operations.