The Nigerian Army has again
cautioned against what it called deliberate and concerted efforts to mislead
the public through inaccurate and false publication of casualty figures on the
unfortunate attacks on some of its locations in the North East.
A statement from Sani Usman,
Brigadier General, the Director Army Public Relations on Friday said the latest
of this worrisome development was the attack on troops’ location at Metele,
Borno State.
He said some persons and media
outlets had continued to circulate various wrong accounts and inaccurate
casualty figures of troops without efforts to verify from the military.
He said, “This is coming at the
heels of our release of 28th November 2018 in which we gave accurate details of
the attacks and casualty figures in a bid to set the records straight and
inform the public true account of things.
“We also promised to continuously
carry the public along through accurate and timely information dissemination on
operations and other activities of the Nigerian Army in the release.
“However, it was observed that
the trend continued unabated. Most of these inaccurate, false reports and fake
news were aimed at denigrating the leadership of the Nigerian Army.
“Regrettably, the rate at which
some mischievous persons ignorantly attack the Armed Forces of Nigeria,
especially the Nigerian Army is very alarming and unfortunate.
“This is deliberate attempt to
demoralise the Nigerian Army which would have devastating consequences on
troops’ will to discharge their constitutional duties especially in the fight
against terrorism and insurgency, thus affecting national security.
“We would like to warn all those
mischief makers to keep the Nigerian Army out of their politics and mischief.
“Journalists and media platforms
should be professional and accurate in their reportage.
“The achievements of the Nigerian
Army within the last three years are glaringly obvious, therefore, whatever
recent temporary setbacks we experienced in the course of the fight against
terrorism and insurgency should not be the yardstick for condemning these
laudable three and half years’ accomplishments.
“We have however identified the
few unpatriotic harbingers of the fake news on the attack at Metele and would
take appropriate legal actions against them.
“This is to ensure that the
Nigerian Army is insulated from propaganda and ulterior motives of
destabilising the country.
“The Nigerian Army is quite aware
that the perpetrators through these acts are covertly supporting terrorists and
their activities in Nigeria with a long term objective. We are also aware that
they want to use insecurity to scuttle and subvert the democratic process in
the country.
“Consequently, we would like to
state unequivocally that no amount of mischief or pressure would circumvent the
journey to a peaceful, free and fair general elections in Nigeria.”
“We, therefore, need the
continued support, encouragement and understanding of well meaning Nigerians as
we deal decisively with the remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists hibernating
at the fringes of our borders with contiguous countries of Cameroon, Chad and
Niger Republic.
“We are committed to the defence
of the territorial integrity of Nigeria. We hasten to state that we will
continue to be professional in our assigned roles and remain apolitical at all
times.
“Once more we warn mischief
makers and proponents of misinformation and fake news to desist from the such
practice and join other well meaning, law abiding Nigerians to support our Army
to countering terrorism and insurgency in the country,” the statement added.
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