The Nigerian security forces have arrested over 17,000 suspected terrorists between 2023 and 2025, tried about 2,000 and convicted about 700.
Findings revealed that in the first half of 2026, the Federal Government secured the conviction of 865 terrorists under its mass trial programme.
Records show that 11,623 suspected terrorists were arrested during various operations across the country in 2024, while 4,375 suspects and collaborators were arrested in 2025. In the first quarter of 2026, troops arrested 1,359 suspected terrorists, logistics suppliers and informants.
Of the 17,000 arrested, some have been profiled and considered low risk and recommended for rehabilitation, while medium- and high-risk suspects face judicial trial.
The Coordinator of Operation Safe Corridor, Brigadier General Yusuf Ali, explained that after arrest, 17 ministries, departments and agencies, in collaboration with Operation Safe Corridor, profile suspects.
“So, amongst the entities, ministries, departments and agencies supporting Operation Safe Corridor, you have the Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for screening all those who have surrendered or were arrested.
“In the process of screening, they differentiate those who have no case to answer and those who were considered, in their own way, victims also. So, they classify those ones as low-risk and hand them over to Operation Safe Corridor.”
Speaking further, he said releasing them straight into society would be difficult because they had already spent time with terrorists in the bush.
“They have stayed with these criminals. Some of them have been killed. So, the trauma and all those other bad things they have experienced make it important that they are administered psychosocial therapy.
According to him, medium- and high-risk suspects are selected for trial after the screening process.
“Ad once they are screened and found to be culpable, they face the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system is still alive and active.”
The Managing Director of Beacon Intelligence and Security Limited, Kabir Adamu, said the significant gap between arrests and convictions in Nigeria’s counter-terrorism efforts points to deep structural challenges in the prosecution process.
He attributed the low pace to systemic issues, noting that while security forces report over 17,000 arrests since 2023, only a fraction of cases make it to court and result in conviction.
Also, the Director of Legal Services at the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Mr Zakari Mijinyawa, said the Federal Government has secured 1,721 terrorism-related convictions since the commencement of its Mass Trial Programme in October 2017.
He said the programme, coordinated by ONSA, the Federal Ministry of Justice, the judiciary and security agencies, has completed 10 phases of terrorism trials since inception.
