The Nigerian Army says it has uncovered a plan by some foreign media, in partnership with collaborators in Nigeria, to undermine ongoing operations to end insurgency in the country.
The acting Director of Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, in a statement on Tuesday, said the plot was to be executed via another false claim of human rights violation by troops in operation.
He said the development was “unfortunate and capable of frustrating the efforts of the military”, while reiterating that troops and their commanders in the frontline would remain focused.
“It has come to our knowledge that some foreign media, Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and some of their Nigerian affiliates are about to start making false claims of human rights violations by the Nigerian Army,” he said.
“It is clear that these groups and their collaborators are not happy with the progress made in the efforts to solve the security problems bedeviling our nation as manifested in the terrorists’ activities. The implication of such act is not lost on us as it is capable of thwarting the gains in the fight against terrorism and insurgency.”
Usman described the sponsors of the new plot to discredit the army as “unscrupulous, unpatriotic and driven by material and pecuniary gains rather than the wellbeing of Nigerians’’. He said the Nigerian Army had been protecting human rights and would not be party to any breach in Nigeria or during any of the military’s operations.
He, however, stressed that the army would not give in to antics that were calculated at frustrating ongoing efforts to liberate parts of the North-East plagued by the Boko Haram insurgency.
“We would not condone any human rights abuses,” he said. “Where there are allegations of human rights violation by any individual or group, this would be thoroughly investigated and those found guilty would be brought to book in accordance with extant laws. Therefore, the Nigerian Army would not succumb to blackmail and neither would it be distracted from its determined effort of defending the territorial integrity of our great nation and safeguarding the security of its citizens.
