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No fewer than 390 repentant Boko Haram members graduated from the Federal Government’s De-radicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration programme in Gombe State.

 

The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, said this during the graduation in Malam Sidi in the Kwami Local Government Area of Gombe State on Thursday, April 17, 2025.

 

He said that the graduating clients arrived at the camp in July 2024 and went through various rebuilding activities of the programme, which reshaped them and made them ready for reintegration into society.

 

Musa, who was represented by Maj.-Gen. Sunday Makollo, said that the non-kinetic approach by the Federal Government is positively impacting military operations in the Northeast. 

 

He restated the Army’s commitment toward tackling security challenges in the country and ensuring peace and security.

 

Musa urged the clients to be agents of peace in their respective communities, while warning them against violating the oath they took and their allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 

On his part, the Commandant of the DRR Camp, Operation Safe Corridor, Col. Abiodun Johnson, said that the clients comprised six foreigners and 384 Nigerians who had been rehabilitated and were ready for reintegration

 

“A further breakdown of the 390 clients shows 13 clients hailed from Adamawa, one from Akwa-Ibom, 19 from Bauchi State, 218 from Borno, one from Cross River, one from Edo, five from Gombe, five from Jigawa,” Johnson said. 

 

“Others are 15 from Kaduna State, 14 from Kano State, seven from Katsina State, three from Kebbi and five from Kogi, two from Nasarawa, five from Niger, one from Osun, two from Oyo.

 

“Four from Plateau, five from Sokoto State, three from Taraba, 47 from Yobe and eight from Zamfara.

 

“The foreign clients include one from Cameroon, one from Chad and four from Niger Republic.

 

“Similarly, six clients are Christians and 384 are Muslims. This information is essential for management planning and the reintegration process.”

 

He explained that during the DRR programme, the clients were trained in various skills of their choice, ranging from welding, tailoring, carpentry, bakery, laundry and electrical repairs, among others.

 

He said that the training was to quicken their reintegration into society and discourage them from going back to crimes

 

The camp commandant said that the clients had confessed their past, denounced their membership of the insurgent group and swore an oath of allegiance to be loyal, obedient and responsible citizens.

 

The Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency, Mrs Zubaida Umar, said the Federal Government is committed to addressing insecurity in the country.

 

Umar commended the resilience of the armed forces for using kinetic and non-kinetic approaches in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism in the country.

 

She lauded President Bola Tinubu for the political will and for approving the expansion of OPSC to cover the six geo-political zones, especially with the inclusion of the North-West and the establishment of the DRR camp in Zamfara State.

 

Umar, represented by NEMA’s Director of Search and Rescue, Air Cdr. Abang Oyong, donated food and non-food items to the clients.

 

According to her, the items will help to stabilise them after the DRR programme and enable their seamless reintegration into society.

 

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that each of the clients got a starter pack according to their area of training and N50,000

 

The items donated include 400 bags of rice (25kg), 400 bags of maize (25kg), 400 bottles of vegetable oil, 40 cartons of seasoning, and 40 cartons of tomato paste.

 

Others are 20 bags of iodised salt, 400 pieces of bath towels, 800 pieces of plastic plates, and 800 pieces of plastic spoons.

 

-NAN

 

 

 

 

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments on May 15 in a case challenging US President Donald Trump’s plan to end birthright citizenship for most individuals born in the United States.

 

 

While the Court declined the Trump administration’s request to immediately implement the policy, its decision to take up the case marks a significant and historic moment. The administration framed the appeal as a “modest” effort to limit lower court orders, but a ruling in Trump’s favor could enforce a policy previously labeled “blatantly unconstitutional” by lower courts.

 

The core issue before the Court is whether federal district courts have the authority to issue nationwide injunctions—orders that block government actions beyond the scope of individual lawsuits. Legal experts have noted the implications of using this particular case to resolve such a procedural debate.

 

 

“This administration is trying to use a procedural issue to activate a policy that many view as unconstitutional across nearly the entire country,” said Steve Vladeck, a CNN Supreme Court analyst and Georgetown University law professor. “It would be stunning if the justices resolved this through a case with such high political stakes.”

 

 

Trump had made ending birthright citizenship a key part of his reelection campaign. Although the 14th Amendment has long been interpreted to grant citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the U.S., Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office to prevent the government from recognizing citizenship for individuals born to undocumented foreign parents.

 

The move triggered a flurry of lawsuits and nationwide injunctions. Trump’s legal team narrowed their focus in the appeal, challenging the breadth of the court orders rather than the constitutionality of birthright citizenship itself.

 

 

Legal precedent on the issue dates back to the 1898 Supreme Court decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which affirmed that individuals born in the U.S. are citizens. The current Court has not expressed interest in revisiting that ruling, but some conservatives argue that children of undocumented immigrants should not qualify as citizens under the 14th Amendment’s “subject to the jurisdiction” clause.

 

The Department of Justice has criticized lower courts for issuing broad injunctions that impact people who were not directly involved in the lawsuits. However, opponents argue that birthright citizenship is a national issue that demands a uniform ruling, rather than fragmented state-by-state outcomes.

 

Emergency court rulings, while not deciding the merits of a case, can have major short-term consequences. For instance, in 2021, the Supreme Court declined to block a Texas law banning most abortions after six weeks, effectively allowing enforcement until Roe v. Wade was overturned months later.

 

In the case of birthright citizenship, several lower courts quickly intervened after Trump signed the executive order. A federal judge in Washington—appointed by President Ronald Reagan—blocked the administration from enforcing the policy and later issued a preliminary injunction. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision in a lawsuit brought by four states: Washington, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon.

 

 

In a separate case, a federal judge in Maryland—appointed by President Joe Biden—issued a nationwide injunction, which was also upheld by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Another injunction was issued by a federal judge in Massachusetts in a case led by New Jersey and 17 other states.

 

 

Trump appealed all three cases to the Supreme Court on March 13. The outcome of the case could reshape the interpretation of the 14th Amendment and redefine how citizenship is granted in the United States.