The Nigerian Army on Tuesday dismissed a report on impending operations in Benue, Taraba, Plateau and Kogi as faux.
The report was presupposed to have emanated from Defence (*4*), Abuja.
Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, said in Abuja that the faux publication was the handiwork of some fifth columnists bent at deceptive the general public.
Nwachukwu burdened that the knowledge conveyed in the stated doc was outright falsehood calculated to unfold faux information to create undue stress and undermine the Nigerian Army.
According to him, a scrutiny of the faux press assertion with a faux military letterhead signifies a non-existent nomenclature in the Armed Forces – “The Nigeria Defence Headquarters Abuja Sector (1) Operation Whirl Stroke.’’
“Additionally, there is no such appointment as `General Operation Commander’ in the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
“Furthermore, the fake press statement was riddled with syntax, grammatical and spelling errors which are in dissonance with Nigerian Army’s press statements,’’ he stated.
Nwachukwu added that the Nigerian Army, being a staunch defender of Nigeria’s sovereignty, had over time, maintained robust civil-military relations with the people of Benue, Taraba, Plateau and Kogi.
He stated also that it was untoward that mischief-makers could attempt to ruin the highly-valued relationship with their intent for extra judicial killing in the course of conducting the purported operations.
According to him, the Nigerian Army has always sustained the flow of information to the general public whenever the need arises through appropriate media channels.
“Considering the damage that this misinformation could cause to members of the public, the army wishes to warn unscrupulous persons or groups employing misinformation to aggravate insecurity in the country to desist from the practice.
“They should rather join other well-meaning and law-abiding citizens to support the Nigerian Army in countering terrorism, insurgency, banditry and other forms of criminality in the country,” Nwachukwu burdened.
