By Charles Pemu 
ABUJA—Former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Idris Wase, ignited a major controversy on Wednesday, November 26, 2025, by alleging that confirmed members of Boko Haram and other entrenched criminal elements were discovered on the official recruitment lists of both the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force.
Wase, representing Wase Federal Constituency of Plateau State, disclosed the alarming finding during a special plenary session convened by the House to review the critical national security situation. He issued a stern warning that such profound infiltration is systematically undermining the nation’s efforts in combating insurgency and banditry.
Citing his tenure as a ranking lawmaker and corroborating his claim with former Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Muktar Betara, Wase lamented the fundamental systemic weaknesses. He stressed that the discovery where criminals and armed robbers were found within sensitive security lists evidences severe flaws in Nigeria’s recruitment processes that permit individuals with criminal antecedents to enter sensitive security institutions.
The former deputy speaker, who shared the personal tragedy of losing a brother and a cousin to terrorists, argued that this internal sabotage largely explains the continued impunity with which criminal groups operate across the country.
He advocated for a systemic overhaul, urging politicians to exercise greater scrutiny in recommending candidates, emphasizing the imperative to recommend individuals of “good character and integrity.” He asserted that the existence of a criminal element within the system guarantees the persistence of the security challenge.
Wase utilized the debate to provide a stark assessment of the national crisis. He highlighted that over thirty thousand people have been killed in Boko Haram-related attacks historically, with an estimated five billion Naira reportedly paid as ransom in a single year, underscoring the lucrative nature of the conflict.
He further noted the disproportionate geographical impact, revealing that more than half of all insecurity incidents recorded in West Africa occur in Nigeria. Specifically, he identified the North Central region as bearing the heaviest burden, accounting for fifty-two percent of the nation’s total insecurity and insurgency incidents.
Wase strongly cautioned his colleagues against attempts to frame the violence along religious lines, maintaining that the crisis is fundamentally driven by criminality and economic motives.
He argued that attempts to introduce a religious narrative distort the reality of the crisis, noting that captured criminals include individuals from Muslim, Christian, and Pagan backgrounds. Wase concluded that narratives that cast the conflict as a religious war weaken national unity and obstruct the development of effective, non-sectarian solutions, urging the legislature to correctly brand the violence solely as criminality.