250 Civilian-JTF Members Recruited Into Nigerian Army

250 former members of the youth vigilante, civilian-joint task force, who had been supporting the Nigerian military in the fight against Boko Haram, have been fully inducted into the Nigerian army after concluding their military training.

According to PREMIUM TIMES, the newly-recruited troopers were at the Maiduguri Government House in Maiduguri on Friday to thank the state Governor, Kashim Shettima for the role he played in helping them to join the army.

Benjamin Solomon, the leader of the team and commander of the parade, was full of eulogies for the governor as well as the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, while pleading that others, who are currently in the CJTF, be given the opportunity to serve in the military.

“We are here to say thank for making us become soldiers of our great country. We thank the president and we thank our father, the Chief of Army Staff, who ensured that we are soldiers today,” Solomon said.

“We are very many in the state and we are pleading that others too be given the same opportunity to become soldiers as well. We also have graduates among us who could also be given an opportunity to serve as officers of various military and paramilitary services. To us, it is now time to serve our country by laying down our lives to protect its territorial integrity”

Governor Shettima, in his remarks, said “The emergence of the Civilian-JTF is a game changer in the fight against Boko Haram.”

“One major issue that needs to be reported is the once strained relationship that existed between the people of our state and the military. But with the emergence of the Civilian-JTF the relationship became cordial. When the historical epoch of the Boko Haram insurgency is being written, the Civilian-JTF will have a chunk place of recognition,” he said.

Shettima thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief of Army Staff, “for helping us to absorb our gallant youth into the Nigerian Army,

“We are not going to stop at this; we are not going to get tired in going after all the service chiefs as we are going to keep knocking on their doors until all our Civilian-JTF members are into various military and paramilitary outfits.”

Shettima also advised the new recruits to be good ambassadors of the state and be loyal to the army hierarchy, urging them “to go to wherever you are posted and deal with all enemies of the country the way you dealt with Boko Haram terrorists.”

Kaka Lawan, the state attorney general and commissioner of justice, had earlier said that other batches of the Civilian-JTF would soon be absorbed into the Nigeria Police and other agencies.

He said 30 of the JTF had already joined the Department of State Security, DSS, as junior personnel.