Abuja – November 27, 2025 – Former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase, has raised a grave national security alarm, alleging that names of identified Boko Haram members and insurgents have repeatedly surfaced on recruitment lists for the Nigerian Army and Nigeria Police Force.
Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja during an interactive session with journalists, the two-term Deputy Speaker (2019–2023) and current member representing Wase Federal Constituency of Plateau State claimed that intelligence reports and security briefings presented to the 9th House of Representatives contained credible evidence that some individuals previously flagged as Boko Haram fighters or sympathizers were shortlisted during multiple recruitment exercises.
“Several times, when the recruitment lists for the Army and Police came to the House, we discovered names of people who had been earlier identified as Boko Haram members,” Wase stated. “These were not random allegations; they were backed by security reports from the relevant agencies. We raised the issues privately with the service chiefs and the then Minister of Defence, but the concerns were never fully addressed in the public domain.”
The former Deputy Speaker, who served as Chairman of the House Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs in the 8th Assembly before rising to the number-two position in the 9th Assembly, said the development posed a direct threat to the integrity of the nation’s security architecture. He warned that allowing such infiltration could lead to sabotage from within the armed forces and law enforcement agencies.
Wase further alleged that some of the affected recruits eventually scaled through the screening process and were absorbed into the services, expressing frustration that successive leaderships of the security agencies failed to implement watertight mechanisms to permanently block such names from reappearing.
While he did not disclose specific dates, batch numbers, or individual names of the alleged infiltrators, citing national security sensitivity, Wase insisted that the matter had been formally documented in classified briefings to the House leadership and relevant security committees between 2019 and 2023.
The allegations come at a time of heightened scrutiny of recruitment processes in the Nigerian military and police, with civil society groups and lawmakers repeatedly accusing the system of favoritism, quota manipulation, and inadequate background vetting.
As of the time of filing this report, neither the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force, the Ministry of Defence, nor the Ministry of Police Affairs has issued an official response to Rt. Hon. Wase’s claims.
Security analysts have described the allegation, if substantiated, as one of the most serious internal threats to Nigeria’s counter-insurgency operations in the North-East and the broader fight against terrorism.
Clarion Newschannel has reached out to the Defence Headquarters and the Force Headquarters for comments and will provide updates as soon as official statements are released.
Boko Haram Infiltration Fears: Former Deputy Speaker Ahmed Wase Alleges Terrorists’ Names Appear on Army, Police Recruitment Lists
