The Nigerian army has released another batch of 593 persons whom it said has been cleared of any association with the Boko Haram terrorists.

Theater Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Leo Irabor, handed over the detainees to officials of the Borno Government at a ceremony in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital on Monday.

Abdulrahman Kuluya, a Brigadier General, who represented Irabor at the event said that the suspects were being released on the directives of the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai.

Kuluya also noted that the Nigerian military has made several efforts at ensuring that peace returns to the North-East by conducting different operations.

He explained that some of the suspects were arrested in the course of the operations in the North-East.

He said: “The Chief of Army Staff has always made it clear at different fora that all persons arrested in the course of the anti- insurgency war in the North-East will not stay a minute more than necessary.

“Persons either arrested by the military or arrested and brought to the military by another person will not be allowed to stay more than necessary,” he said.

The army chief noted that the detainees were released after they were cleared by the Joint Investigation Team of the military.

He added that they were being handed over to the State Government for psycho-social support before final reintegration into the society.

Receiving the detainees, the Welfare Officer at the Bulumkutu Rehabilitation Center, Ladi Musa, thanked the military for the gesture, pledging that the State Government had already provided enough facilities at the center for the rehabilitation of the detainees.

Recall that the army had in July 2016 cleared and released 249 terrorist suspects after clearing them of involvement in the insurgency.

They included 169 males, 46 women and 34 children.