Former deputy speaker, Idris Wase, has raised an alarm boko haram terrorists are being recruited into the military and police
A former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Ahmed Idris Wase, has revealed that suspected boko haram members and other criminals were once discovered on official recruitment lists for the Nigerian Army and Police.
Wase, who represents Wase federal constituency of Plateau state and leads the North-central caucus of the 10th House, made the disclosure on Wednesday during the ongoing special security plenary convened to review Nigeria’s escalating insecurity and examine policy and legislative interventions.
The lawmaker said the infiltration of the security services reflects a dangerous flaw in Nigeria’s recruitment system. According to him, the claim can be verified by former Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Rep. Muktar Betara.
“There were moments in time when in the process of recruitment, boko haram members were found in the list. Other criminals, armed robbers, gangs were found in the lists of Nigerian Army and Police,” he said.
He urged his colleagues to recommend only credible individuals during recruitment exercises, warning that criminal infiltration compromises national security.
“There has to be a thorough way of ensuring that when we are recruiting, those of us who are politicians should recommend people of good character and integrity… You find a criminal in the system, and before you know it, whatever you do, you cannot have the problem resolved,” he added.
Wase noted that the North-central region accounts for 52 percent of insecurity and insurgency in the country, disclosing that he had lost close family members to terrorists.
“I lost my younger brother, same mother, in Borno… I lost my nephew,” he told lawmakers, adding that even a surviving brother begged to be relocated because of the worsening violence.
He also urged a review of the presidential directive withdrawing police escorts from VIPs, warning that without proper categorisation the policy could create fresh security gaps.
‘This crisis is criminality, not religion’
Wase cautioned against framing the insecurity as religiously motivated, insisting it is driven by organised criminality.
“I want to disagree with those who are bringing the religious inkling into it… So how do you define it as genocide against any faith?” he asked.
He also called for constitutional reforms to address Nigeria’s indigeneship problem, which he described as a longstanding source of division.
‘Bandits collected ₦5bn ransom in one year’
Decrying the scale of insecurity, Wase said bandits extorted “about ₦5bn in ransom within one year,” while boko haram and related attacks had claimed “about 30,000 people.”
He questioned the impact of huge security spending, noting that nearly 30 percent of last year’s national budget went to security agencies.
“If there were proper releases and proper execution, we might have solved some problems,” he argued.
The lawmaker accused security agencies of poor coordination and failure to act on intelligence, citing the Kuje prison attack and a recent incident in Kebbi State.
“There must be synergy and collaboration between all our security agencies. Otherwise, it is going to be an exercise in futility,” he warned.
Other lawmakers weigh in
Speaking for the North-West caucus, Rep. Sada Soli described the region’s security crisis as multidimensional and rooted in environmental pressure, governance failures and economic exclusion.
“Tackling this threat demands a holistic strategy that combines security operations with social, economic and environmental interventions. Mr. Speaker, a purely military or kinetic response won’t be sufficient in order to address this issue in the North-West.
“The long-term stability will require building trust in state institutions. We must build trust in our institutions. We must make efforts to reform land and livestock governance, addressing climate response and pressure and ensuring that affected communities are meaningfully taken part in providing solution to our security threats,” Rep. Soli added.
For the North-east caucus, Rep. Muktar Betara described the zone as the “epicentre” of insurgency and highlighted deadly attacks from Borno to Adamawa and Yobe.
“Allow me to briefly highlight the example from each six states. In Borno, the heart of the conflict, we witnessed the Baga massacre in 2015, where hundreds of our citizens were killed in the 2016 attack, which claimed over 100 lives of suicide bombers in 2024.
“In January 2025, where we lost our military officers and the insurgencies from the reoccurring improvised explosive devices explosion and killing civilians.
“Mr Speaker, Nigerian security challenges may be vast, but they cannot be there with strategic planning, coordinated action and awareness, political commitment. We can restore public confidence, stop spread of violence,” Rep. Betara said.
South-south representative, Rep. Solomon Bob, accused successive governments of lacking the courage to confront terrorism decisively.
“What has happened in this country is an abject lack of courage. Every president since 1999 to today has demonstrated an embarrassing lack of courage to deal with an issue that has persisted,” he said.
“We are appeasing terrorists. We are placating them. They are engaging in negotiation. You can’t appease your way out of terrorism.
“Even here in this House, members come here and speak. They deliberately mischaracterise very serious violent crimes and call them banditry. Yes, two things can be true at the same time. We can have banditry. We can have terrorism.
“Terrorism is the most dangerous of the violent crimes we face in this country today. We have laws dealing with terrorism. We have laws dealing with kidnapping, with various stiff penalties. None has been taken in,” Rep. Bob added.
Chairman of the House Committee on Women Affairs, Rep. Kafilat Ogbara, lamented the impact of insecurity on women and children, describing recent mass abductions as a “national tragedy.”
“These are not mere security failures. They are breaches of the most fundamental duties of the state,” she said, urging governors to step up internal security efforts.
“We need our governors to do more. The president cannot be everywhere,” she added.
